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NIMROD OF THE SEA. 



NIMROD OF THE SEA; 



OR, 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN, 




By WILLIAM M. DAVIS? 



NEW YORK- 
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 




FRANKLIN SQUARE. 



1874. 



<=,* 



*p 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 

Harper & Brothers, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at "Washington. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Story of Ohther and King Alfred. — First Whaling in America. — "Work 
proposed in this History. — My Owner. — The young Candidate. — Papers 
signed, and we sail. — The first Reef. — Going Aloft. — The Chelsea. — The 
Crew.— The Outfit.— Food Page 13 

CHAPTER II. 

Uneventful Passage. — Captain's Inaugural. — Mast-head and Place in Boat. 
— Discipline in Boats, and first Whale raised. — Awkwardness of Crew, 
and Whale lost. — Music and Song a Necessity. — Hinton, the Nightin- 
gale. — The Yarn as Mental Food. — Forecastle Philosophy. — Burrows's 
Theory of the Gulf Stream. — Whales pass under the Isthmus of Da- 
rien. — Ben Coffin. — His Idea of Luxury 23 

CHAPTER III. 

Ben's first Whale. — Struck on a Breach. — Cedar cracking, and Ben goes 
up. — As he rises from deep Water he meets Captain Davis coming 
down. — He takes a Departure, and strikes out for New London. — Chip- 
man confirms the Yarn. — Albatross, and one sent homeward as Mes- 
senger. — The Pilot-fish, and its long Passages. — Work of the Watches, 
and learning the Rigging. — Washing, Mending, and other Accomplish- 
ments of the Sailor. — Lessons taught on the Forehatch of the Chelsea. 
— My Crony Posey. — His Love Story. — Why the Nobility of Nantucket 
go Whaling. — Posey's Ambition. — The Secret of Nantucket's first .Suc- 
cess. — Successful whaling Co-operation. — Obed Macy's Description of 
Whaling 34 

CHAPTER IV. 

A brave, righteous Man first Settler of Nantucket. — Early English and 
Dutch History of Whaling. — Bounties and Immunities granted by Brit- 
ain. — Captain Wilkes's Picture of American Whaling. — Preparation to 
weather the Cape. — Able Seamanship of our Whale Captains. — Con- 
stant Vigilance of Captain B , and slight Toss of Whalemen. — 

Where the Whaleman shows to best advantage. — Run to 62° S. lati- 
tude, and meet a favoring Gale.- — -The "Lay" and Fibre of a Cape 
Yarn : Hinton's last Passage around. — The great icy Barrier, and Home 
of Mother Carey. — A Gale of Wind in the Ice; 51 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER V. 

The Aurora Borealis, and Explanation. — Coleridge's Mistake in the "An- 
tient Mariner." — The Mother Carey's Chicken. — Ben moralizes on this 
little Bunch of Feathers. — Captain Folger's Luck. — The Devil no Match 
for a Gale of Wind off Cape Horn when the Skipper is bound to carry. — 
The Cape doubled, and we come on Cruising-ground. — Boats' Crews 
Watches established. — Idle Time on Cruising-ground. — The Length of 
Cruises. — Fasten to our first Whale Page 63 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Phoenix, of Nantucket. — "Cutting-in" first Whale. — Boat-steerer 
goes over the Side to hook on. — Choice between drowning and Sharks. 
— Immense Power required.— Blanket-piece. — Misapprehension regard- 
ing Size corrected. — Deep Surgery. — The Head. — The Junk. — The 
Case, and the Bailing. — The Spermaceti Bath. — Contents of the Case. — 
Trying-out, and Ship drifting. — Bill in the Blubber-room. — Night Scene 
in trying-out. — The Suffering of this first Night. — But we will soon 
harden to that. — Want of Sleep 77 

CHAPTER VII. 

How to save Jack. — Mr. Deil, of Honolulu, tried successfully. — Run down 
the Coast. — View of the Cordilleras. — Disappointed in the first View of 
Peru. — Touched at Callao, and ran on to Payta. — Captain ran counter 
to the Laws. — Chipman prepares to defend the Boat. — Pistol and Lance 
drawn. — Liberty on Shore, and Effects of Aguadiente. — Adjourn to the 
Calaboose. — Africa against Peru. — Chips joins the Company in poetic 
Mood. — The good Captain's Advice and Warning 93 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Volcanic Desolation. — To Black Beach for Terrapins. — We reject Green 
Turtle. — Strange new Life. — Town ho! — First Terrapin. — A live Knap- 
sack. — Grandfather as an Angler. — Supper in Camp. — Terrapin and 
Iguana. — Jim Sellers's Philosophy, and probationary State for Cap- 
tains. — Watch by the Camp-fires. — Breakfast, and proper Stowage of 
Grub. — A Cruise up into the Island 102 

CHAPTER IX. 

Springs of Water from the living Rocks. — A new Dish, and simple Cook- 
ery. — A Supper, and permission to Kings to sup. — We return to Camp. 
— Up Anchor for Cocos Island. — At Anchor again. — Anticipations of 
Tropical Luxuriance exceeded. — Description of the Growths. — Quarrels 
settled. — Bottom of the Bay, and beauty thereof. — Wild-boar Hunt. — 
Description of our Game. — Absence of Food elements in Cocos Island 
contrasted with the Abundance at the Galapagos. — Remarkable qualities 



CONTENTS. 



of the Terrapin. — Abundance and Variety of Fishes. — Weigh Anchor for 
Selango to wood Ship. — A Plan to desert proposed and declined.— The 
Wreck of Forests found at Sea Page 112 

CHAPTER X. 

Anchor in Selango Bay. — An Afternoon's Liberty. — The People and then- 
Houses. — Beautiful building Materials and comfortable Homes. — Con- 
trivance to keep noxious Vermin from the Houses. — Furniture. — Span- 
iard circumventing Monkey. — Monkey circumventing Spaniard. — Fruits, 
and the' Cherimoya in particular. — Visit to Banana-orchard. — Crabs 
which are red, and that do run backward. — Wooded on the Rubber- 
tree, and sought Store of Limes. — See our first Monkeys. — Abundance 
of Monkeys revealed; pelt them with Oranges. — Cheapness of Fruits. — 
Ship richly supplied with Fruits.. 126 

CHAPTER XL 

The Boat lowered, and the Men leave the Ship. — Residuary Legatee, and 
Preparation of the Chests, with national Song. — Second Mate makes a 
Discovery, and discourseth thereon. — Muster-roll called, and armed Boat 
ordered away. — Give up Chase, and attack on Case-bottle. — Weigh An- 
chor for Payta. — Description of Balsa Rafts. — A Providence for maritime 
Men in the placing of Timber. — Shoal of swimming Crabs. — Black-fish 
Chase. — Arrive at Payta, and ship eight Men 134 

CHAPTER XII. 

Leave Payta, and Long Tom's first Whale. — Bridled Whale. — Bow-oar 
hauling on. — Bill on Cephalopods. — Ben on the Squid. — Ben on Whale's 
Feeding. — Long Tom and Reef Squid. — Sandwich Islander on Polypus. 
— Troublesome Tenant 141 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The Sperm-whale as it appears to Whalemen. — As a game Animal. — Idle 
Life on board, and Prizes for raising Whale. — Pig Sacrifice. — Whale- 
man in the Boat. — The Perfection of Whale-boat. — Equipment of the 
Whale-boat. — Retrospection in Boat 155 

CHAPTER XIV. 

A Whale-chase. — Boat stove, and novel Rescue. — Spade to stop running 
Whale. — The good Captain savage. — Fast Line, and Captain cooled 
down. — Captain apologizes. — On Hand and Gun Harpoons. — Hand- 
lance and Bomb-lance. — Erroneous Figures of Whales. — Cuvier's Ex- 
planation. — Desmaret and Lesson.*— Explanation of Illustration of 
Sperm-whale. — Sight of the Whale. — Description of Head. — Ben Rus- 
sell's Pictures. — Professors Jameson and Murray. — A Harper's Whale. 
— Jardin and Beal's Figures 162 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Enormous Supply of Blood in the Whale. — Sir John Hunter's Views. — 
Whales' Spouts. — The Life. — Spouting thick Blood, dies of Suffocation. 
— Flurry. — Fin out. — Telegraphing. — The "Glip," or Wake. — "Lob- 
tailing." — "Breaching" and "Sounding." — Turning Flukes. — Regular- 
ity in the Spouting, Time of Blowing, Submergence, and Speed of 
Whales discussed. — Description of Spout. — Errors of Naturalists on the 
Spout. — Skin of Whale. — Flesh and Blood. — Their Young. — Period of 
Gestation. — Whale's Office in the Millennium. — Age of Whales measured 
by the Teeth. — Sand-marks on the Teeth as affecting Question of Food. — 
Settling of Whales.— Size of Whales and their Proportions. — My Views 
indorsed by old Whalemen. — Jumper, and Captain Scott, R.N. — Captain 
Basil Hall's return from Dinner ashore, and what he saw. — Power of 
Whales to remain under Water at Will, and Captain West's Opinion. — 
Opinions of Captains Gardener, Covill, and West. — No Blood in the 
Whale's immense Case and Junk. — Queries suggested thereby on Cir- 
culation and Animal Heat. — Offices of the Oil glanced at. — Cold Cur- 
rents of the Pacific. — Sperm-whales frequent these Page 175 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Loss of Ship Union by a Whale. — Captain G 's Experience with a 

Sperm-whale. — Whaling favorable to Longevity. — Monument in Sag 
Harbor to six young Captains proves the Contrary. — Loss of a whole 
Boat's Crew. — Captain Henry Huntting and his good Fortune. — Captain 
James Huntting carried down by a Whale, and cutting Line. — One of 
his Crew recovered from the Line, and improvised Surgery 190 

CHAPTER XVII. 

A Quarrel, and Knife drawn. — Portuguese flogged, and Reflections thereon. 
— Sunday on Board, and Library. — Religion on Board. — Pythagoras on 
Board. — The Providence for Sailors. — Books in Demand, and Kind. — 
Chips and his Journal. — Chips in the Battle of Plattsburg. — His Views 
of the Sabbath. — Right-whale Porpoise taken. — Five hours' Chase un- 
successful. — Another Chase successful.-— Rock of Dunda mistaken for a 
Ship. — Fishing off Abington Island. — Second Visit to Cocos Island. — 
Hector, of New Bedford. — Hunt for wild Hogs 198 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Race with the Hector. — Alternate Success. — Our final Triumph. — Bone- 
shark. — Anchored at Charles Island. — No Water, no Woman, and took 
to Fishing. — Elmira, Captain Marchant, and Preparations for a Fandan- 
go. — Governor Villamill comes on Board, and Captain gives all Hands a 
Drink by Proxy. — Details on Defense, and how the Yankees did it. — 
Hunt a Bull.— Hunted in Turn.— Bull killed, and a Row 208 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Post-office of the Galapagos. — Sefiora Villamill's Monkey. — Farewell to 
the Galapagos. — An unfortunate and mutinous Ship. — The wide range 
of Whalemen. — Burke's Eulogy on American Whalemen. — The Mutiny. 
— Bingham's Row with second Mate. — Council of War in Eorecastle. — 
The difficult Decision. — Man tied up. — Hans returns Good for Evil, and 
strikes back, and Row generally. — The Captain slashes round... Page 220 

CHAPTER XX. 

The Captain's Law. — Man cut down. — Ship adrift with Yards aback. — 
Men refuse Duty, and still drifting. — The "Round Robin. " — Make sail 
for Sandwich Islands. — The Treaty, and a Peace-offering. — Remarkable 
Tenacity of Life in Sperm-whale. — Finback. — Gam with Adeline Gibbs, 
Captain West. — Greenwich and Mean Time compared. — Fighting 
Sperm-whale of the Galapagos. — A Yankee Trick on a Whale. — How 
Whalemen are made: Cabin-boy at ten, Master at twenty-two. — Love 
of the Profession. — The Sailor dreams he is Captain, and goes on a 
Whale. — Shyness of Whales rather than diminished Numbers length- 
ens Voyages. — Balloon suggested to take Whales. — Water-spouts dis- 
cussed. — Mowee raised, and anchored at Honolulu. — Sad History of 
the Waskonk. — Slaughter of the Crew, and recovery of the Ship. — 
Smuggling Rum on Board. — Pig-headed Perversity 229 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Angling for Sharks. — Shark in Stays. — Carpenter of the Jolly Ananias and 
unfortunate Shark. — Land-sharks dealing with our Crew. — Consular Bru- 
tality and Injustice. — Six Months in an Indian Fort awarded. — A surly 
Crew at the Windlass. — Captain's Speech, and Comments. — Our Kanaka 
Crew. — Speed of Whales argued. — The Run described. — Coughs and 
Colds. — General Wretchedness. — Tropical Rains and Water-spouts. — 
Want of Faith in Science avowed. — Job on Rain and bad Weather. 248 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Water-spout described. — Query: Effect on Newton's Theory. — Kanaka 
Hymns. — Stupor and Gloom. — The old Woman's Curse. — Flying-fish. — 
Dolphin. — Albicore a sign of Whales. — Angling for Albicore. — Poison- 
ous Fish. — Influence of the Moon on Fish and Men. — A benevolent 
Enemy. — Scrimshoning and Pigs. — The Pig as a Pillow. — Man-of-war 
Hawk. — Strange Companionship at Mast-head 258 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

New Theory of the Flight of Birds. — The Bird a Balloon. — Adventure with 
a Shark, and a Man in Danger. — Questioning Darwinian Theory. — 
Grinding Crow-bars to Sail-needles. — A Gam of Whales, and five killed. 



CONTENTS. 



— A Ten-barrel Whale and Boat stove. — Death boards us. — A sad and 
suffering Death-bed. — Lowered for Whales. — A dead Shipmate, and Re- 
spect for a dead Body. — Funeral at Sea, Sperm-whales attending. — In 
a Region of small Whales. — Pets of the Ship, Cats; Monkey, and his 
Love of Eggs Page 267 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Game-cock as a Time-keeper. — Cockroaches in an Economical Point of 
View. — Medical Practice adapted to Working-men. — Fancies, and Sick- 
ness on Board. — Cure for Scurvy. — Captain Mathew's Story of Boiled 
Eggs. — Extravagant Use of Butter and Sugar. — Etiquette of Meals. — 
Want, of the Same on the Forecastle. — Grub, and Manner of Serving. — 
Coral Island seen. — Small Whale, and Stove Boat. — Wash-day. — An- 
tonio as Washer-woman, and Chemical Experiments on him. — Grand In- 
carnation and Appearance of Satan us 280 

CHAPTER XXV. 

"St. Elmo's Fires," close Examination of; Superstitions on. — Longfel- 
low and Shakspeare Versions. — Phosphorescence of the Sea. — Riding 
the Gale aloft, and ravishing Sights. — Second Mate sick, and Reconcil- 
iation. — Killer Whales, and Modes of Attack: unsuccessful Chase for 
One. — Boat-mending, and Flying Squid. — Plenty of Fish, and Jib car- 
ried away. — Approaching Land, and Smell of the Land. — Land Dead 
Ahead, and the Mystery thereof. — The Reason of Man proved equal to 
the Instinct of the Bird. — Owyhee in Sight 290 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Coasting the north Side. — Natives fishing from flying Canoe. — Native 
Trade. — Native Songs, and Tradition of Love of Pele for Kameha- 
meha. — Conflict between the Chiefs of Hawaii and Maui, and Fete of 
Swimming. — Kealakeakua Bay the Scene of Cook's Death. — Our Anchor- 
age. — Three beautiful Boys, and my Hycamee. — A profitable Invest- 
ment. — A naked Kanaka civilized from the Breech upward. — Liberty 
on Shore, and a Feast. — Cooking described. — Place of Burial. — Taboo, 
and the peaceable Dispositions of the Children. — The Mothers diving for 
Shells, and Emulation. — Inability to take Shore Exercise 300 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

Practicing Casts by a Disciple of Izaak Walton. — We come back to Din- 
ner, and join a Procession. — The Dinner in classic Style. — Visit from 
Governor Adams.— A great Man in Avoirdupois. — Second Visit Ashore. — 
Tapa-making. — Wyhenne in Search of Ideas, and her Disgust. — Cook's 
Monument. — Incident in the Fight, showing Coolness in the Natives. — 
We go Fishing. — Trolling from double Canoe. — Mr. Baldwin preaches 
on Board. — We weigh Anchor for Oahu 311 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Jack of Owyhee sings the Song of Haleakala, and the Wars of Fire, Water, 
Air, and the Sands. — Admirable Qualities of the Kanakas. — Sunday at 
Honolulu. — Outer Anchorage. — Fitting Ship for long Cruise. — Mr. Deil, 
Seaman's Chaplain. — Drunkenness on Shore. — Meeting Daniel Wheeler, 
and we disagree. — Good News of our imprisoned Shipmates. — The Pow- 
er of the United States interposed, and they are liberated. — Weigh 

Anchor for Japan. — A Woman swims thirty Hours. — Mr. S left at 

the Islands. — Reach Japan, and Bill is promoted Page 319 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Cockroaches as Hunters of the wicked Flea, and as Scavengers. — Swarm- 
ing Schools of Albicore. — First Japan Whale raised. — Tame Whales. — 
Darkness approaching. — Lost Whale. — A Gale of Wind, and Trouble 
in holding Whale. — Slaughter of Sharks. — Sharks suggested for the Am- 
phitheatre. — Cutting-in under Difficulties. — Animal Life surrounding us. 
— Sword-fish and Albicore. — Taking the Sword-fish. — Whales lost and 
taken. — Active Work in the Boats. — Whales every Day.— Bill's first 
Chance. — An exciting Approach, and one hit. — Gam with the Caroline, 
of London. — Musical Inharmony, and a Row. — We are ordered in to the 
Boat, where the Song is finished. — Fourth of July Celebration 326 

CHAPTER XXX. 

The shaded Side of the Picture: a heartless Captain, and unhappy Crew. — 
We take an Englishman from her : a Waif of the Alliance. — Two small 
Whales taken. — Three Whales struck, one taken. — "Shall I pick you 
up?" "No; kill that Whale." — A butting Whale killed under the 
Counter of an English Ship. — He is Unlucky. — Cruelty to the Islanders. 
— Whales getting wild ; several lost 339 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

Posey's first Whale, and lost Whale ; we struck him, he struck back. — The 
Boat crushed by his Jaw, but Whale saved. — Boat cut in two by a 
Whale, and Hinton a Shade whiter. — The Portuguese Man-of-war, or 
Sea-nettle. — Passage from Japan. — Pets all consumed. — Grub does not 
improve with Age. — Minutes longer by Day and shorter at Night. — Bul- 
ly Sprague, and Jonah's Whale. — Well-spun Yarns a Necessity. — Cap- 
tain Covill, and fighting Whale. — Boat bit in two. —Tried to butt the 
Ship 345 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

Captain Huntting, and fighting Whale off the Rio de la Plata. — Bomb-lance 
failed to kill. — Four Boats lost, and their Gear. — The Whale holds the 
Field. — A demoralized Crew allowed to desert. — Two Years out, and we 

1* 



10 CONTENTS. 



double back: a running Sketch of Month's voyaging. — The Washing- 
ton, of Nantucket : two Men killed. — Her third Mate caught in the Jaw, 
and bitten. — The Ocean, of Nantucket : Mate killed. — Weigh Anchor in 
Valparaiso Harbor, and sail for Eight -whale Grounds. — Bear versus 
Skunk; or, Theory versus Tact. — Approach the Right Whale with mis- 
givings Page 357 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Head of the Right Whale. — Description of Drawings of Whale's Head. — 
Contrasts between the Right and Sperm Whales. — Different Manoeuvres 
of Boats necessary in attacking the two. — Dispositions of these Whales. 
— Natural History of the Right Whale better understood. — The. Sperm- 
whale a Mystery. — The weak Point in the Right Whale, not mentioned 
by Scoresby. — Instant Arrest of forward Motion. — Pricking the Nose to 
direct the Course of the Whale. — Immediate Consequences of touching 
the Small. — Fastening to Right Whale. — Winrows of Brit, and Whaling- 
ground off Chiloe Island; go on Whale. — Struck Blubber, and Iron 
failed to enter. — An Iron in Blow-hole, and Effect illustrated. — Large 
Right Whales. — Dimensions in Detail of Right Whale. — The upper Jaw 
considered as a Dining-room. — Tongue equals ten Oxen. — Mode of work- 
ing its sifting Apparatus. — Dimensions continued 368 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Try-works overboard. — Dreaming. — Adventure of Captain I H 

with a fighting Right Whale. — Two Men lost, and fearful Peril of the 
Captain. — A Fight of Three-quarters of an Hour. — Ship fails to part 
the Combatants ; Captain saved by Mate's Boat. — Why Right Whales 
sink. — Greenland Whales, or Bow-head. — First Bow-head taken by Cap- 
tain Covill. — Entrance of Whalemen to Behring Strait. — Edible parts 
of the Whale. —Sad Picture of the Ship and Crew. — In Talcahuana. — 
Weigh Anchor for Home. — Doubling Cape Horn. — Touch at Pernam- 
buco, and meet Gale off Bermuda. — Cold and Fog off Long Island. — 
Land in New London. — Hospitality. — Profit and Loss Account. — Ar- 
rive in Philadelphia, and Finis 383 

Appendix A 397 

Appendix B 399 

Appendix C 401 

Appenidx D 402 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

in the whale's jaw Frontispiece. 

"been aboard the chelsea yet?" 16 

"there she blows!" 28 

struck on a breach 38 

nantucket schooling 47 

light-house, sankatt head 49 

the sea beyond the shining wall 60 

captain folger's luck 69 

in a school 74 

"cutting in" 79 

bailing the " case " 83 

trying out .^ 88 

the prisoner 98 

tropical growths 116 

corals and madrepores 120 

some fish 123 

eight- armed cuttle-fish (sepia octopus) 145 

memorial picture .• 152 

outlines of sperm-whale 168 

whale "breaching" 172 

a nimrod of the sea 196 

a land-shark 201 

water-spout 242 

LANCING 272 

a stove boat 286 

carcass adrift 331 

section of right whale's head (mouth shut) 370 

section across right whale's head (mouth open) 373 

going on right whale 379 

just landed 394 

"ne plus ultra." 395 



NIMROD OF THE SEA; 

OR, 

THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 



CHAPTER I. 



Story of Ohther and King Alfred. — First Whaling in America. — Work 
proposed in this History. — My Owner. — The young Candidate. — Papers 
signed, and we sail. — The first Reef. — Going Aloft. — The Chelsea. — The 
Crew.— The Outfit.— Food. 

My story of whaling, to begin at the beginning, should 
tell how King Alfred, of blessed memory, listened to the 
wondrous stories of whaling told by " Ohther, the Norway 
man," arid how he was so charmed by the recital that he 
published, for the benefit of his subjects, information to the 
effect that Ohther " coasted along the country of the Fins 
(Lapland) until he passed the North Cape, and penetrated 
•the gi*eat White Sea — the same which washes the icy barrier 
of the Arctic Pole — wherein he found great whales of forty- 
eight and fifty elns in length, the same being so exceedingly 
numerous and tame that Ohther, with the help of five men, 
could kill sixty of them in two days." The average English- 
man is not impulsive, and he slept over the good Alfred's 
hint for six hundred and ninety-three years, when, in 1593, 
some English ships made a voyage to Caj)e Breton for the 
moi'se and whale fishery. Such was the beginning of this 
brave and adventurous business by people who think and 
speak in our mother-tongue. The same adventurous spirit, 



14 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

transplanted in America, struck deep root, and brought 
forth a rich harvest from the sea. 

The first recorded agreement concerning the capture of 
whales in America commences in this wise : 

"Y e 5th day of y e 4th month, 1672. James Loper doth 
ingage to carry a design of whale-catching on the island 
of Nantucket. That is to say, James ingages to be a third 
in all respects, and some of the Town ingages on the other 
two-thirds in like manner, etc." 

Behold in the wonderful history of American whaling 
how great a flame this little spark kindled. The practical 
mother -wit, or gumption, which characterized the early 
American found expression in this first adventure in this 
most perilous profession. In this agreement we find that 
subdivision in interest, that co-operation of capital, skill, 
labor, and courage which ultimately secured a prosperous 
career to the Americans, made them masters in the busi- 
ness, and drove the men and ships of all other nations from 
the whale-fishery. 

Just two centuries from the date of the above contract, 
or about "ye 5th day of ye 4th month," 1872, my good angel 
wrote to me, saying : " Overhaul your journal of a whaling 
voyage to the Pacific, and give us a history of American 
Whaling by pen and pencil. Fling yourself into the work ; 
write of that strange life as you saw it from the forecastle 
and the mast-head, from the boats and the quarter-deck. 
Put into it all the poetry and rapture, the danger and the 
deviltry, the enjoyment and the suffering, with all the his- 
tory you have in your memory or have access to. To be 
statistical and tedious is a felony ; but history can be made 
as charming as romance, without losing any of its value." 
Such were my directions, and, sailing by that chart, I open 
the old oil-stained pages of my journal, and therein find 
that on the 11th day of ye 10th month, 18 — , I, Bill Seaman, 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 17 

bow-oar with divers others, including captain's mates and 
harpooners, did "Ingage to carry on a design of whale- 
catching" in the Atlantic, the Pacific, and all other waters 
to the uttermost ends of the earth, wheresoever whales did 
swim ; and " some of the town of New London did ingage 
with us in like manner, in proportions " as set forth in the 
ship's articles of the good bark Chelsea, Major Thomas A. 
Williams, owner. And here, before I begin my narrative, 
I wish to bespeak indulgence toward one of its features. 
It is based on the well detailed journal of a foremast-hand, 
who rose to boat-steerer ; therefore it is written from the 
stand-point of the forecastle, and the quarter-deck is treated 
of as an object of a laudable ambition. My journal is used 
as a cord on which are strung the experiences and advent- 
ures of others, such as I have been enabled to pick up in 
the form of yarns on board the Chelsea. Omitting a date 
to my voyage, I am thus enabled to give the experiences of 
a quarter of a century. About the internal economy of our 
ship I write as the boyish sailor ; and I ask you old captains, 
in imagination, to sit barefooted on an old sea-chest as you 
read my story as I sat to write it. 

Is it necessary that I should recount how complaisant the 
major was before I signed the ship's articles ? It appeared 
that the major was anxious to fill up his crew, that the ves- 
sel might not be detained when her fitting was completed; 
and doubtless, as he regarded the tall, slender, and rather 
weakly youth before him, he deemed it necessary to throw 
in an encouraging word to strengthen good resolutions : 

"Ah! you're from Pennsylvania. Very good place that : 
a little too far from salt-water to be wholesome, I guess. 
Salt air Will soon put color in your cheeks. You think you'll 
like the sea? of course you will. Nice life — very, if you 
take to it right. Been aboard the Chelsea yet ? Yes ; good 
ship the Chelsea, and such a sailer ! A regular Baltimore 



18 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OS, 

clipper; easy times aboard that ship. You've trade-winds 
most of the way to Cape Horn : trade-winds, you know, are 
steady ; as fixed, sir, as the needle to the pole, as the poet 
has it. And then there's the Pacific ! Grand sea that ; all 
about Juan Fernandez, Magellan, and the Southern Cross it's 
as calm and smiling as a mill-dam — so smooth that the il- 
limitable sea seems a boundless oil-tank ; where you see re- 
flected in it the belt of Orion and the Pleiades. The thought 
almost tempts me to run out on a voyage, just to see that 
whaleman's heaven. 

"Do you know that you get fresh beef at sea? Yes, sir, 
you do. Porpoises are to be had for the catching. Por- 
poise has muscle in it; you'd stiffen up on porpoise. And 
albatross too, big as geese ; a little oily, but you'll get used 
to that. It makes a man water-proof to eat albatross." 

The good man never dreamed that this moment was the 
fulfillment of the dreams of my short life. When I was a 
little boy, I had rigged and sailed my toy boats ; and when a 
few years older, I had devoured Cook and Delano, and was 
happy in the library of Mavor, looking forward to the time 
when I too should visit the strange seas and scenes I had 
pictured in imagination. I took joy in the major's persua- 
sions, as I knew that he would accept me, and allow me to 
go in his ship. Let me say it was no freak of a child, no 
sudden whim, which led me to this point. Twice I had been 
disappointed in going to sea. Once I had shipped in the 
Globe, East Indiaman, when a severe accident kept me con- 
fined for weeks after she had been under way. On a bed 
of sickness my young heart followed that gallant ship on 
her course, and I found consolation only in the promise of 
my fatherly brother, that when well another berth should be 
found me. 

Then I shipped on board the saucy little free-trader, Star, 
bound for the coast of British India. She was armed, and 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 19 

carried a very heavy crew. My kit was purchased and tak- 
en on board, and one drizzly dark morning I went on board 
in my gay shirt and spotless ducks. When examined by 
the surgeon, he pounced on my wrist, left crooked from frac- 
ture in the late accident. It was still tender : he gave it an 
awful wrench ; I flinched. " You won't do," was his awful 
verdict. In vain I told him that it was getting well very 
fast, and would soon be as sound as the other. He saw my 
heart was in going, and, being a kindly man, he said, " I can't 
pass you as sound ; but go on shore now, and thank God 
that a weak wrist stands between you and this voyage." I 
did not know what he meant, but I went home to the quiet 
country almost heart-broken; and had no peace of mind 
until a letter from my friend, Mr. Lorenzo Draper, of New 
York, brought the glad tidings that he had secured a place 
for me on the Chelsea. And in a few days, with great joy 
in my heart (for which God forgive me), I kissed the tearful 
faces which bade me farewell for the long and, to them, fear- 
ful voyage which lay before me. Little did the good major 
know how little I needed the kindly encouragement he was 
extending ; and lest I might again be disappointed, I made 
haste to append my name to the articles. 

"Ah! you've signed. That's a good Bill; there's a cap- 
tain's berth ahead, if you earn it. Now run down to Mr. 
Strong in the basement; he'll finish your outfit in a jiffy. 
Take good advice : he is as sharp as he's Strong ; make him 
take off fifteen per cent, for cash : he will get rich faster 
than you or I at that. Get a good outfit ; spend your money 
for clothes, and not for tobacco, so that you may keep clear 
of the slop - chest. You have a week before you sail : look 
about you, and make the most of New London ; for a three 
years' voyage is no trifle, and you won't see a better place 
the other side of the land. Good-morning." 

I did not again speak to the major for forty-five months. 



20 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

Eight days afterward, I was standing, a cold, wet crea- 
ture in red flannel and duck, looking back at a low bank 
of cloud-like land, as Montauk Point was fast sinking: from 
sight. 

"So Juan stood, bewildered, on the deck: 

The wind sung, cordage strained, and sailors swore. 
And the ship creaked, the town became a speck, 
From which away so fair and fast they flew." 

It seemed a wide Rubicon I was crossing. Heart and 
landscape sunk together. I was now in fitter mood to bid 
a proper good-bye to those I had so lightly left, so lightly 
thought of — bah ! what a miserable substitute is the rough 
flannel cuff for a linen handkerchief : it leaves the eyes so 
red that the jolly brutes about me, in sympathetic tone, in- 
quire if my "head is running on shilling calico already." 
The first night at sea is ever memorable, especially when a 
stiff north-west gale whistles a double-quick over the star- 
board quarter. Such was our welcome ; but running free, 
we made good progress on a course. By some mysterious 

election I found myself in the starboard watch, Mr. S , 

the second mate, heading it. I very soon found a prejudice 
against my superior, and a serious doubt arose as to the 
right of his claim to be a gentleman. The matter came out 
in this wise : in the course of his duty, I suppose, it became 
necessary to order a reef in the foretop-sail. The yard was 
lowered away ; the reef-tackles hauled out, with much un- 
necessary " Yo, heave oh'ing," and the old salts flocked up 
the weather shrouds. I was deeply interested in their move- 
ments, never suspecting that a green hand would be required 
to go aloft the first night out, and in such rough weather ; so 
I studied the endless tangle of braces, halyards, reef-tackles, 
clew-garnets, falls, and purchases by which I was surround- 
ed. I wondered at the strange music of the storm-harp, the 
infernal confusion of creaking yards, the flapping of the sails 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 21 

away overhead: all this was food for the mind of the lad 
fresh from the little saw-mill quietly nestled in the shelter 
of the Gulf Valley. But presently, as I held some secure 
rope, admiring the agility with which the sailors squirmed 
out of sight into the whistling, howling darkness overhead, 
I saw the mad second mate coming for me with a rope's end 
in his hand, and with some ugly expletives, in sea lingo, be- 
tween his teeth. I took in the whole situation in a moment, 

as S again yelled to me, " Lay aloft, and reef top-sails, 

you infernal lubber !" 

The turmoil and confusion of the gale had subsided be- 
fore this new storm came, and unhappy I found it compara- 
tively easy to creep up the ratlines, My pride then led me 
to avoid the " lubber's hole " and to mount the terrible f ut- 
tock-shrouds. Here, in some way, I found myself close in to 
the bunt on the weather foretop-sail yard. The roll, pitch, 
and sway of that yard, and the gyrations of the foot-rope 
supporting me ; the darkness, wet, and howl, the hoarse or- 
ders and naughty oaths of the men, banished the little sense 
which the premonitions of sea-sickness had left me. I won- 
der if any sailor ever forgot his first reef at night. I don't 
remember to have knotted a point. In sheer desperation I 
hugged the shivering spar, repeating the beautiful prayer, 
" Here I lay me down," etc. 

I was very loath to let go, and even allow the impatient 
sailors to lay in from the yard-arm. " Goodness gracious !" 
thought I ; " can I ever go clear out on that yard in such a 
night ?" By some means all hands got safely on deck, all 
was bowsed taut, and we stood on our course again. For 
the remainder of this miserable night we were hauling and 
letting go, belaying, making fast, coiling, reefing, and furling, 
and doing many things which I never so much as heard of 
in the whole twenty-seven volumes of Mavor's voyages. The 
pitch of our little uneasy bark, the spraying seas which over- 



23 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

leaped our low bulwarks, and the growling oaths of moist 
humanity grew worse and louder, until I thought we were 
in for a terrible gale, and would have so described it, had 
I not overheard an old salt remark that it " blowed a stiff- 
ish breeze." Then I took courage and thanked God, though 
I should have preferred, with Paul, " to land at the Three 
Taverns " to do it. Such was the opening of the young 
landsman's journal of a voyage round Cape Horn in a three 

years' cruise for sperm-whales, Captain B commanding. 

In passing, let me state that, as the names of our officers are 
not material, I omit them for reasons which will appear here- 
after. 

If you follow me through the rest of my wanderings, it 
is proper that you should know and love the good ship 
j which bore us./ She was beautiful and good — beautiful in* 
the calm, swift in the breeze, and staunch in the storm ; 
sharp as a clipper ; graceful in every line as the frigate-bird ; 
wide -spread in wing as the albatross; and, in riding the 
waves, like a Mother Cary's chicken. She was sharp in the 
bow, broad in her beam, and clean in her run ; small in her 
hold, with broad and roomy decks. A woman's head graced 
/ her cut-water, and half the gods of heathendom, in alto-re- 
/ lievo and high colors, decorated her stern. In fact, in rig 
and hull she was a prince's pleasure yacht, rather than a 
blubber-hunter, although she was built expressly for such 
service. " Give her speed," was the major's order; for speed 
in a whaleman is as wisdom was to Solomon — it includes all 
things* She Uad the proud habit of the blood-horse in toss- 
ing her beautiful head in the face of a gale, and if the mar- 
tingale was not of the truest and strongest she would toss 
her jib-boom over the top-sail yard. Then she would nes- 
tle her woman's head so deep in the bosom of the leaping 
waves, that the foam of their crests would kiss the feet of 
her master on his quarter-deck. Gay and lively, brave and 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 23 

safe, was my old pet and mistress ; for I came to love her in 
my long life of safety aboard her. 

Our ship, bark-rigged, and registered 400 tons, could stow 
300, equivalent to 24QD. barrels of oil. We carried four 
boats on the cranes, and three spare boats on the spars above 
the quarter-deck. To each of the four boats was assigned a 
crew of six men — viz., a boat-header, a harpooner, and four 
oarsmen. Besides the twenty -four men assigned to the 
boats, we had a carpenter, a cooper, a cook, a steward, a 
cabin-boy, and three spare men, or thirty-two all told. The 
captain, cook, steward, and cabin-boy did not stand regular 
watches ;' they aided as ship-keepers when the boats were 
off. This gave the starboard and larboard watches each 
fourteen men, sufficient to handle sails in nearly every emer- 
gency. 

The crew was composed of a captain ; a mate, who head- 
ed the larboard watch ; a second mate, who, with the third 
mate, headed the starboard watch ; four harpooners, and the 
trades mentioned before, with greenhorns and old salts, who 
were known to be, and shipj>ed as, able seamen. The strong 
force on board a whale-ship and the duties in the boats give 
an importance to the under officers unknown in the mer- 
chant service. With us the second mate was the officer of 
the deck during his watch, and he never left it to furl or 
reef : he exacted as respectful an "Ay, ay, sir," in answer 
to his orders as did the captain himself. The harpooners 
were divided, two in each watch, save when we were on 
cruising grounds. Then we reefed down every night, and 
each boat-steerer headed his own boat's crew's watch during 
the night, and became officer of the deck. 

Our outfit consisted of extra sails and rigging, spare spars, 
and a store of tar, paint, etc., for repairs to ship ; cedar 
boards and light timbers for the boats ; a large quantity of 
admirably made whale line; a store of harpoons made of 



24 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

the softest and toughest iron, with lances of a quality of 
steel and capacity of cutting edge that might excite the envy 
of a diplomaed "sawbones;" also cutting-in spades, boat 
hatchets and knives ; casks for the oil, stowed with water, 
food, or clothing ; and all the very many necessaries to cov- 
er the wear and tear of long years of arduous service. An 
important and peculiar feature in the equipment of a whale- 
ship is the " try-work." This consisted in our ship of three 
large iron pots, built in brick-work, and so supported by iron 
stanchions, that a body of water was maintained between 
the hearths and the deck to intercept the heat of the fur- 
naces. For stores we carried as a staple, ship-biscuit, pork, 
and beef, with coffee, tea, molasses, rice, beans, Indian meal, 
flour, and pickles. Our woi'thy major was a professor of 
religion, and I am quite sure that on the day of final account 
he may safely call upon the Chelsea' 's crew to testify to his 
liberality in our outfit. We might confuse the accountants 
if we gave our entire list of luxuries, which included " dough- 
boys," "choke-dog," "lobscouse," "dough jeh>ovahs," and 
" menavellins." Each day of the week some one of the 
above delicacies accompanied the inevitable salt-junk; and, 
believe it who may, we had pork every day, not two or three 
days a week, as some unfortunates have it. Furthermore, 
access to the bread cask and the molasses tank was never 
denied. Perhaps there is no single article, I may say in pa- 
renthesis, in which the superiority of the American whale- 
man's outfit is more manifest, than in the excellent ship-bis- 
cuit which ail carry, the greatest care being taken to exclude 
dampness or decaying influences. It will be noticed at once 
how well we were provided for. 



THE 'AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 25 



CHAPTER II. 

Uneventful Passage. — Captain's Inaugural. — Mast-head and Place in Boat. 
— Discipline in Boats, and first Whale raised. — Awkwardness of Crew, 
and Whale lost. — Music and Song a Necessity. — Hinton, the Nightin- 
gale. — The Yarn as Mental Pood. — Forecastle Philosophy. — Burrows's 
Theory of the Gulf Stream. — Whales pass under the Isthmus of Da- 
rien. — Ben Coffin. — His Idea of Luxury. 

The whale -killing historian and poet, Obed Macy, says 
very truly, that " The sea to mariners is but a highway : to 
the whaler it is his field of 'harvest ; it is the home of his 
business." The passage, or voyage, to the harvest^field oc- 
cupies little of the mind of the whaling man ; it is to the 
harvest -field itself that his thoughts turn. Green hands, 
women, and men-of-war's men may find material for a jour- 
nal and a book, mayhap, in the incidents of travels about the 
blue sea. But the whaleman steps on board his full ship, 
bound home from Behring Strait, and battered and rusty 
from a four years' cruise, with the expectation of no more 
noteworthy incidents than a tired bank-clerk might encount- 
er in a voyage from the Chestnut Street wharf, Philadelphia, 
to Camden, via Smith Island Canal. I was verdant, and 
the old journal was well filled before we reached the Brazil 
Banks, via the Cape Verds, which we sighted and passed. 
"The notes taken were mainly personal, however, and imma- 
terial to this history, except, perhaps, one referring to the 
captain's inaugural speech. In this speech there was the 
stereotyped bluster, threat, and insult deemed necessary to 
place the captain and officers in their proper places, and to 
put the crew in sailing trim. We were duly informed that 

2 



26 NIMH OB OF THE SEA; OH, 

the captain was to do all the fighting and swearing on board 
the Chelsea. Green as I Avas, the deprivation of these two 
sea luxuries was of small account, but some of the old salts 
took it greatly to heart. To stop the grog on board our 
whale-ships is of slight moment, but "to clap a stopper on 
honest swearing is a lubberly go," was the general verdict 
when the men went forward. Very soon after leaving home 
the mast-head lookout was established. This consisted of 
an officer, or boat-steerer, at the main, and one of the crew 
at the foremost top-gallant cross-trees or royal yard. The 
mast-head was manned at daylight, and continued until sun- 
set, and was relieved every two hours, the crew taking the 
watch, as they did the helm, strictly in turn. 

We were assigned to our places in the boats. I was 
placed at the bow-oar in the starboard, or captain's boat, 
in which position service was likely to be seen, as Captain 

B was an ardent whaleman, skilled with the lance, and 

proud of helping his mates out of a tight place by pitching 
his lance into the life of their whale. Our boat-steerer, 
Elisha Chipman, was a fine specimen of manhood, as w r ill 
appear hereafter. 

At times, when the ship had moderate headway, the boats, 
with their green crews, were lowered, and we manoeuvred 
around a dummy whale — a spare spar towed astern. Thus 
we were continually drilled in lowering away, shipping oars 
at the word, "pulling in chase," "going on," "starning," 
"pulling two oars starn three," until our hands were sore- 
ly blistered, and something like discipline was established 
among the crews. Now we were fairly launched on our 
cruise, and the captain was ready for whale. The injunc- 
tion was given to keep our " eyes skinned at the mast-head, 
and sing out for every thing you see." And thus we ran 
through the tedious calms and sudden squalls of the "line" 
into the south-east "trades" which blew us to the Banks 




"there she blows 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 29 

of Brazil. One day the cry came from aloft, " There she 

blows !" " Where away ?" shouted Captain B , his gray 

eyes snapping with excitement. "Three points off lee 
bow ; blows ; blows ; four miles off, and sperm-whale." All 
hands were now alive, the watch from below came on deck, 
the captain sprang aloft, and a long-drawn shout came from 
above, " There goes flukes !" as the whale went down. 

The excited crew were in the lee rigging, keeping a sharp 
lookout, the boats having been cleared for lowering. The 
captain ordered the maintop-sail aback. 

" Stand by to lower," he cried. " There she blows, close 
aboard." 

The boats were awkwardly launched, the willing crews 
tumbled in, and great confusion of oars ensued ; but in good 
time we settled down to the work, and were fairly off in 
pursuit of our first whale. A long chase it proved, and fruit- 
less, although we had two fair darts. The mate's boat was 
first on, and ours was second ; but the hump seemed under 
my bow-oar as we ranged across the corners of his flukes. 
Owing to want of nerve, or awkwardness in the crew, how- 
ever, the iron dart came back straight ; and so this fine whale 
was left in the South Atlantic, to blow in peace. The cap- 
tain took his failure in good part, and scolded less than we 
expected. The evening's watch was an excited one. As 
hunters track back on the sport of the day, so we sought 
reasons for our failure. The knowing ones were wise about 
spermaceti, and we green hands learned much of forecastle 
natural history in the evening's recital. Every mother's 
son who had ever gone on to a whale had a yarn, and some 
of those told were indeed " wonderfully and fearfully made." 

The enjoyments of the voyage — these I will describe, as 
they show something of a whaler's life — in no slight degree 
depend on the crews having some one skilled in the violin to 
stir the dance on calm evenings. Generally the accomplish- 



30 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

ment is considered necessary in the "doctor" (i. e., cook) 
of the ship ; and if the cook is a black, the chances are that 
a fiddle is stowed in his sea-chest. We had a beau ideal 
"doctor" and fiddler, and his enlivening medicine went far 
to banish scurvy from the ship. The second in importance 
is the "minstrel boy." He must have considerable range 
of expression, that he may sing of love, war, and the storm ; 
to soothe us with the sentimental and cheer us with the 
comic. He must sing with Castillego : 

" How could we love, if woman were not : 
Love, the brightest part of our lot ; 
Love, the only chance of living ; 
Love, the only gift worth giving." 

Or, with Dibdin : 

"Yet, come but Love on board, 
Our hearts with pleasure stored, 
No storms can overwhelm ; 
Still blows in vain, 
The hurricane 
While Love is at the helm." 

Touching on the known constancy of Jack, and the tempta- 
tions of this wicked world : 

" Some with faces like charcoal, and others like chalk — 
All are ready one's heart to o'erhaul ; 
' Don't go for to love me.' ' Good girl,' said I, ' walk ; 
For I've sworn to be constant to Foil.' " 

He will shock our native modesty by singing of the sights 
prepared in the ballet : 

"And she hopped, and she sprawled, and she spun round so queer — 
'Twas, you see, rather oddish for me ; 
And so I sung out, 'Pray be decent, my dear; 
Consider I'm just come from sea.' " 

He sings the joys of virtuous love thus: 

' ' No gallant captain in the British fleet, 
But envies William's lips those kisses sweet." 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 31 

And of the sterner duties of our hardy profession : 

" Cease, rude Boreas, blustering railer! 
List ye landsmen unto me, 
Listen to a brother-sailor 
Sing the dangers of the sea." 

If need be, he must, handspike in hand, mount the windlass 
and, in deepest bass, lead the chorus, 

"With a stamp and a go, 
And ' Yo, heave oh!"' 

In brief, the "minstrel boy" must have a fitting song for 
all moods and every occasion. He is an attraction in the 
carouse on shore, and in the night-watch in calm and storm. 
Such a treasure we had in our mulatto boat-steerer, Harry 
Hinton. Brave and faithful, he never shrunk from a duty 
below or aloft, or a danger in boat or port. He stuck to 
the Chelsea through good and evil, and was one of the six 
who remained to drop anchor from our old ship in New 
London harbor. 

The sailor is an insatiable lover of the yarn, and his pas- 
sion is still strong after he has put aside his sea-legs and set- 
tled in the peaceful home, away from the blue water. The 
marvelous narrations of the forecastle and the quarter-deck 
have as wide a range as the songs. One of our crew had 
mastered Mavor's voyages, Walter Scott, Cooper, and Mar- 
ryat; and being blessed with a memory that held all the 
wonderful and beautiful of his earliest readings from the 
" Good Book," he was able to hold the watch in breathless 
attention through many bells — now with the matchless story 
of " Ivanhoe," now with the " Talisman," now with " Peter 
Simple " and " Snarleyow," or with the adventures of the old 
terrors of the seas on which sailed the English buccaneers. 
The wild extravagances of Hackett's Nimrod Wildfire and 
Forrest's Metamora were recited in minutest detail, regard- 



32 NIMROD OF THE SUA; OB, 

less of time, as Time was an enemy to be led captive by the 
cunningly meshed yarn. 

" Come, Jack, now for a long yarn," is the request of the 
watch, as we gather about the windlass and the forehatch. 

" Oh, Lord bless your souls ! I haven't time for a long 
yarn, as it's my ' trick ' at the helm at four bells." 

" You don't get out that way, Jack ;" and some one agrees 
to take Jack's trick, so that he has a clear three and a half 
hours to drone over an old-fashioned yarn, the requisites be- 
ing that it shall be of " love and fun, with some murder in 
it " — the more improbable the better. Jack consents, and is 
conscientious enough to stretch the yarn out to eight bells, 
as per contract. Should he find himself, at the end of half 
an hour, ahead of time, he resorts to an expedient worthy of 
a professional novelist. The hero is taken home, and friends 
crowd around him anxious to hear his latest adventures. 
Jack refreshes himself from a black bottle, and boldly re- 
peats the yarn he has just told us. We then lay awake to 
watch that his memory is perfect, and that he does not trip, 
or omit the slightest detail. Should he do so, he is at once 
stopped, to account for the kink we have detected. If he 
makes many slips, the impression becomes general that he 
has been playing on our credulity. This is pretty sure to 
breed a row, to be settled at the first port we make, as Cap- 
tain B will not allow any fighting on board. Thus we 

are thoroughly awakened, and in great good humor we strike 
eight bells and call the larboard watch. 

The theories and philosophy of the landsmen are accepted 
with a very liberal discount by forecastle savants. "How 
could those lubbers ashore be expected to know the real 
facts of deep water, when they squat ashore and take the 
dead shells and waifs which the live sea tosses to their reach- 
ing hands ? A dead whale floats ashore, and they make draw- 
ings that would stand as well for a Dutch galiot, and put it 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 33 

in their picture-books as one of the living, beautiful facts of 
God's creation !" 

Reasoning much in this way, Jack takes a landsman's 
theories with a grain of allowance, deciding that much 
learning tends to madness. His own philosophy is some- 
times astonishing — certainly original ; and I may cite the 
theory of the Gulf Stream proposed by Mr. Burrows, our 
Mexican third mate, as an example. He started our green- 
horns on a new track, by declaring the old theory of a con- 
centration of Atlantic currents insufficient to account for all 
the phenomena attending this stream, and also that the in- 
fluence' of the north-east trade-wind blowing into the Gulf 
of Mexico was incompetent to produce such a result ; for, 
said he, the violent interruptions of contrary gales and hur- 
ricanes would not affect the general velocity or volume of 
the stream. 

" The fact is," said Burrows, very learnedly, " there is an 
under-ground channel between the Pacific and the Gulf of 
Mexico, through which a great river of the warm water of 
the Pacific is poured to the lower level of the cool Atlantic. 
In evidence, the pretty weed which floats in great fields in 
the Gulf Stream is found growing on the Pacific shore of 
the continent, and not on the eastern side. To be sure, 
great masses are met north of the islands, but it is the bruised, 
half-killed weed which has passed north in the stream and 
has been swept into the great return eddy. The little crabs 
and the peculiar creeping fish found in the weed belong to 
the Pacific shore. But the best reason is the fact that 
whales do pass from sea to sea in a time too short to allow of 
the long journey around Cape Horn. Whaling skippers tell 
of sperm-whales that have been killed in the Pacific carry- 
ing in fresh wounds the bright irons bearing the stamp of 
ships then cruising in the Atlantic. On after comparison 
of the logs, it became apparent that but few days elapsed 



34 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

between the escape of the stricken whale in the one sea and 
its subsequent capture in the other." 

The interest in this view lies in the existence of the inter- 
oceanic canal; but the sperm-whales are close-mouthed (as 
we afterward learned), and keep their own secrets. One of 
the men remarked that the idea was " too simple and ration- 
al to be believed," and he went into a scholarly yarn on the 
subsidence of a great part of our continent, the lofty finger- 
prints of which he said yet remain visible in the mountain 
heights of Cuba, San Domingo, and the chain of the Carib- 
bees. And he told of a civilization in this Western World 
older than the Pyramids, and in existence before the learned 
Brahman Menou recorded, in Sanscrit, the dawn of human 
history. But the incidents of the day indisposed us for 
subjects so scientific, and all knowledge concerning the Gulf 
Stream was voted a whaleman's yarn. 

Old Ben, one of our crew, was then called on for his yarn 
about the first time he went on a sperm-whale. This story 
was as nuts and cider to the green hands, inasmuch as it 
was an honest confession that an old hand had been "gal- 
lied" (frightened). The fellow-feeling made us wondrous 
kind. But you should know Ben. Coffin in order to ap- 
preciate the fun of the story. Ben, in his youth, might have 
sat for the picture which Dibdin sang : 

" His form was of the manliest beauty, 
His heart was kind and soft, 
Faithful below he did his duty, 
But now he's gone aloft." 

Ben, as he begins, says he is a rich farmer's son, and that 
he came to sea to wear out his old clothes. When he gets 
through with the job, he is going to play the role of the 
Prodigal Son, and go back to the old Vermont farm, and say, 
"Father, I have whaled," which involves all of sinning, and 
then eat fat veal all the rest of his days. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 35 

" When that port is made, and I am safe anchored, and 
rich, and all that kind of thing, and can do as I please, I am 
goin' to ship a bosin-mate from the biggest seventy-four in 
Uncle Sam's blessed navy, and I'll give him a silver call; 
and his duty shall be to pipe all hands at eight bells (4 
a.m.) in the morning, and to rap a handspike ag'in the ma- 
hogany (inlaid with whale ivory) door of my state-room, 
and rouse me out with, ' Starbo-a-r-d watch, a-h-o-y — oy !' 
Then I'll sing out, ( Watch be Mowed P and go to sleep 
again. What's the gain of bein' rich if you can't blow the 
starboard watch at eight bells ?" 

Ben is about sixty-five, and has a chestful of old clothes 
yet. Fifty -two years he has spent at sea, with short in- 
tervals on shore. He never married, " because his mother 
was particular on the score of daughters-in-law." Ben is 
bruised, battered, and warped in body ; seamed and wrin- 
kled in brow, by fire, by ice, and shipwreck. The few fin- 
gers which the frosts of Labrador have left him are corru- 
gated and doubled in, to fit close to the rope and the oar 
he has tugged at for half a century. During the war of 
1812 he served in the Constitution, and labored faithfully 
and successfully in shooting some new ideas through Mr. 
John Bull's head. Growing tired of the humdrum and 
peaceful quiet of man-of-war life, he came whaling, as he 
expressed it, to "see life, to sweat the weeds from my fig- 
ure-head, and to rub off the barnacles which deadened my 
headway ; and, by the great hokey ! I got in the right place 
in the Chelsea under old Captain Davis. I'll tell you green 
hands about that first whale I went on in the captain's 
boat." 



36 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 



CHAPTER III. 

Ben's first Whale. — Struck on a Breach. — Cedar cracking, and Ben goes 
up. — As he rises from deep Water he meets Captain Davis coming 
down. — He takes a Departure, and strikes out for New London. — Chip- 
man confirms the Yarn. — Albatross, and one sent homeward as Mes- 
senger. — The Pilot-fish, and its long Passages. — Work of the Watches, 
and learning the Eigging. — Washing, Mending, and other Accomplish- 
ments of the Sailor. — Lessons taught on the Forehatch of the Chelsea. 
— My Crony Posey. — His Love Story. — Why the Nobility of Nantucket 
go Whaling. — Posey's Ambition. — The Secret of Nantucket's first Suc- 
cess. — Successful whaling Co-operation. — Obed Macy's Description of 
Whaling. 

"We was a-runnin' down the trades, in lat. 13 S., right 
about this very spot as it might be, and Lish Chipman 
there, he Avas at the mast-head, and raised whale. We ran 
down with the ship convenient, and lowered four boats. 
Captain Davis was real hungry and cantankerous for a 
whale,, for he hadn't been in a fight for nearly six months ; 
howsoever, the whale soon turned flukes and staid down, 
so that I thought he'd never come up ag'in. The captain 
was mounted on the gunwales, and Lishey was on the box; 
and we was a-lookin', each man over the blade of his own oar, 
to catch the first spout, when suddenly Lish uttered a cry that 
almost made one's marrow creep. ' ' Bill,' said Ben, address- 
ing me, 'you're in his boat, and you'll hear him whisper that 
way some day, and you won't grow any more after hearin' it.' 

" Well, however, as I was sayin', Lisha, with a quiet^yell, 
not much above a whisper, said, ' Look out for breakers, 
captain ; take your oars, all of you, and don't speak for your 
lives.' He grabbed his iron, when, quick as a white squall, 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 39 

there was the whale's head on a clean breach, not two 
iron's length from the head of the boat. We couldn't stir 
hand nor foot for the life of us. Up, up, not fast, the whale 
kept going. It seemed there was no end to him. The old 
man was gallied a little I think, but he let Lish have his own 
way. / I don't think one of us breathed, or even winked, as 
we watched that awful black mass shootin' into the sky. I 
tell you, boys, you'll never really know how big a critter a 
whale is until you see him eclipsing the sun, as I did that 
blessed day. / 

" And there stood that Chipman, his back to us, and at 
that minute, I guess, to all the world, with his iron and hand 
away back over his shoulder, a-waitin' and waitin' till the 
hump showed itself, and full fifty feet of black skin was in 
the air ! It looked as if it hung right over our heads, when, 
holy Moses ! Lisha clapped the iron in right up to the sock- 
et, and yelled out so they heard him aboard the ship, ' Starn 
for your lives ! Starn all, I tell you !' At the same time 
he planted his second iron in the falling whale. Didn't we 
obey orders that time, I wonder ! The boat had jumped its 
length, when the whale fell crashing right across our bows, 
nearly swampin' the boat in the swell he raised, and more 'n 
half filling us with white water. 

" I never was at the Falls of Niagara, and, at my time of 
life, don't believe I'll ever go there for the express purpose 
of listenin' to splashin' water, as I have heard one uproar 
that showed what might be done. 

" The whale thought that blow between wind and water 
was foul, for he cut such infernal canticoes that we could 
not get on to him. He sounded out half the line, and then 
ran under water, and provoked us in that way till the old 
man got real mad, dashed down his hat, and let out one of 

his rip-stavin' swears. Old B , you know, wouldn't swear 

to save his soul, let alone a whale ! But our old man, Jeru- 



40 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 



salera ! how lie could swear when there was honest life-and- 
death need of it ! Well, while the old man was a-eussin', 
I heard cedar a-crackin', and when I looked around I was 
goin' up to the sky fast, with Captain Davis about half a 
boat's-length ahead of me. We parted company up there, 
for he kept on his course when I turned. I come down head 
first as in course, and went down into dark water like a bower 
anchor; I was kind of wire-drawn, and felt long as the main- 
mast. Bime-by I turned a sharp corner and glanced up, 
most as fast as I went down, and was gettin' purty well into 
daylight ag'in, when all at once it was dark ag'in. I looked 
up, and there was the whale, like a comet with a tail of sea- 
fire a-streamirt' behind him, a-headin' right for me. Good 
Lord, how I sculled out of his course ! He shot by me like 
a rocket, and when I came up on a half-breach, I was just 
dead-beat for breath. I spouted like a whale, and bio wed 
out the surplush wateiyand got a good long breath. Oh, 
how good the blessed air comes to a famished, chokin' man ! 

" Just then I heard something splash in the sea ; I turned 
quick, and obsarved that the boat keg had just come down. 
' Stand from under !' said I, and, I looked up, and believe it or 
not just as you please, but there was Captain Davis a-comin', 
end over end, makin' the tallest kind of headway to his nat- 
ural level. This whirligig made me kind of sea-sick, and 
turned my stomick ag'in whalin'. I thought I'd carry out 
my old plans, and git to Vermont jist as quick as I could ; 
so I got the sun well over my larboard shoulder, and struck 
out north, two points east, for New London. But the mate's 
boat overhauled me before I had swum far, and took me 
back to the ship, where the captain gave me a stiff can of 
grog, to qualify the salt I'd swallowed in my deep-sea sound- 
ings. 

"Now, boys, I never could make out exactly whether 
the captain went up very high, or I came up quicker than I 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 41 

thought for (I allowed that I was down about a half-hour), 
but, maybe, I only dreamed the dreams of the drowning, 
and saw sights which flit through men's heads in their last 
minutes. I asked Captain Davis once how long he'd been 
kiting that time. The old chap grinned, and said he hadn't 
looked at his watch, but he could now believe that the ' cow 
jumped over the moon' about the time when 'the little 
dog laughed to see the sport, and the dish ran away with 
the spoon.' " 

" How about Ben's yarn ?" we inquired of Chipman, who 
sat quietly smoking his pipe on the end of the windlass. 

"Ben is about right in the main features of the case. I 
happened to look straight down from the head of the boat, 
when I saw the whale right under us, coming on a breach. 
He glimmered as bright a blue in the deep water as my 
sweetheart's bonnet. There was no time for thought, so I 
only acted on instinct and followed mother's last advice, 
never to let black skin go by the head of my boat without 
putting an iron in it, which. the dear creature gave, illustra- 
ting it by throwing a fork at the black cat. But say, Ben, I 
was mortal feared the old man might order you to starn off 
before I could get my irons in. The whale didn't act so 
ugly as Ben thought; Ben was green then, you know, boys; 
but the darned critter did smash things when he hit us. 
But, then, nobody was hurt, although some were mightily 
skeart; and the old man himself owned that he got confused 
in his whirligig passage from the stern-sheets of the boat to 
the water." 

Such were part of the yarns called forth by the adventure 
of the day; and we young fellows retired to our virtuous 
straw, in the main pleased that we had passed the first or- 
deal without mishap, but sorry, of course, that we had miss- 
ed this first chance for oil. 

After this, long days passed as we sped southerly. Many 



42 . NIMROD OF THE SEA; Oil, 

false alarms were raised from the mast-head ; ships were seen 
and passed ; none spoken. We watched the little pilot-fish un- 
der the bows, and the great albatrosses as they sailed about 
the ship or floated gracefully on the water. About the Bra- 
zil Banks several of these great birds were taken by baiting a 
floated hook with fat pork. As the " Antient Mariner" hath 
it : " It ate the food it never had eat ;" and, in consequence, 
it fell into the hands of those who had not the awful warn- 
ing of the slayer of albatross before their eyes. We caught 
and killed them to obtain the long, hollow bones of the wings, 
for ornamental needle-cases for the " girl I left behind me." 
One grand old fellow, whose stretch of wing was guessed as 
twelve feet, and whose great, hooked beak seemed little in- 
jured by his capture, we preserved from death to convert 
into a messenger. Writing the words " Chelsea, of N. L., 

Captain B ; all well; lat. 27° S., long. 36° W.," we secured 

the paper in oiled silk. This was waxed, varnished, render- 
ed perfectly water-proof, and secured by a cord around the 
base of the bird's neck. A red ribbon streamer was attach- 
ed to attract attention. All being prepared, we headed our 
messenger by compass a true course for our " sweethearts 
and wives," and launched him on the wing with a loud hur- 
ra. Forty-two months from this time we learned the con- 
clusion of our venture. Five months after we had released 
the bird in lat. 27° S., it was shot from a pilot-boat off the 
harbor of New York, and our dispatch, with the manner of 
conveyance, made an item in the papers of that city. ' This 
was the first news our friends had received of the wild wan- 
derers. Thus the albatross had come like a voice from the 
sea to many anxious hearts, bearing a welcome message five 
thousand miles, and, like the messenger from Marathon's 
bloody field, dying in delivering it. As I have anticipated 
in the case of the albatross, let me do the same with the lit- 
tle pilot-fish which leads our good ship on her way. From 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 



the neighborhood of the Cape Vevd Islands, where it joined 
us, until we lost headway in the port of Callao, Peru, it ac- 
companied us. Undaunted by the cold and the storms of the 
cape, it led the way into lat. 62° S., and during a fearful scud 
before a south-east gale, which drove us for forty hours at 
an average of nearly fifteen miles an hour, we carried it into 
the shoal and perhaps too foul waters of a Peruvian harbor. 
The whole distance run by this little fish, allowing for trav- 
erses, was over 14,000 miles; time 122 days, or a daily aver- 
age of 115 miles. In all these days, there was not a moment 
when the ship had such headway on her that our pilot might 
not be seen distinctly in front of the cut-water. By day, we 
could see it near the surface at our rising and falling bow; 
by night, in the phosphorescent seas it shot along, a gleam- 
ing flame, just in advance of the scintillations caused by the 
spurt of the cut-water. Our little companion obtained the 
interest of the crew, and word that it was still with us was 
passed from watch to watch. It finally entered into the su- 
perstitions of our ship, and its leaving us would have caused 
concern to many minds on board. Among men and officers 
there was no doubt that -it was the same fish that joined us 
on the coast of Africa, and followed us south 77 degrees of 
latitude, thence north 50 degrees, making west 60 equatori- 
al degrees, boarding itself meanwhile, without a watch be- 
low for sleep or rest. Let any boy or girl turn to the map 
of the world, and trace this long track of a fish not over 
twelve inches long, and think how wonderful are God's ways 
even with the smallest creatures — ways so wonderful that 
they are past finding out by grown men, even professors in 
natural history. 

In the days that gradually grew longer as we approached 
the. cape, the time of the watch on deck (or half the crew in 
turns of four hours each) was employed in pulling old rig- 
ging into yarn, knotting the yarn and winding it into con- 



44 MM ROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

venient balls, or, by a simple wheel and axle, spinning it 
into rope-yarn for rigging again. The finer and evener 
yarn was neatly woven into mats to prevent the yards from 
chafing. The old sailors would neatly point ends of rig- 
ging or work the various knots of the " rose," and " double 
rose," the "wall," and "wall and crown," each having a 
special place and service. To " man-rope," " bucket-rope," 
" stoppers," etc., etc., are the accomplishments of the able 
seaman, next in order to reefing and steering. Inability to 
place the appropriate splice or knot in the appropriate place 
is deemed lubberly. Endless were the lessons patiently 
given and received in this intricate and important part of 
a sailor's education. Long were the discussions, and count- 
less the authorities quoted to establish diverse views as to 
the placing of some knot, splice, point, or seizing. Things 
were simplified to me, however, when I learned that in all 
the tangle of taut, strained, or swinging lines, thei*e were 
only three ropes in the ship — viz., man -rope, monkey- rope, 
and bucket-rope, with a rope's end to every piece of stand- 
ing or running rigging. The first piece of rigging my poor 
brain located was the clew-garnet ; its mineralogical associa- 
tion fixed that. From this little point I soon got over the 
lubberly habit of asking some one to " cast off " or " make 
fast " this or that rope, and began to chatter in the best sea- 
lingo about " swif ters," " fore " and " back stays," " braces," 
"halyards," "falls," "purchases," "jewel-blocks," "ear-rings," 
" chains," " forefoot" and " taff rails," " binnacles" and " lock- 
ers," and to respond promptly to " bowse, taut, and belay 
all," and to " cast a bowline " or " double hitch." The mys- 
tery of the short and long splice, the " grnmmit " and " thole 
mat," the " thrum " and the " point," afforded play to the 
fingers which had practiced with the trout-flies and lighter 
tackle of the gentle art taught by Izaak Walton, of most 
worshipful memory. The useful art of washing and mend- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 45 

ing was not neglected, and we collected ouv rents as faith- 
fully as did the closest landlord of the dry land. A sailor 
should be able to direct the building of his ship from 
royal-truck to keelson, and rig her with his own hand from 
a rope-yarn to the " hawser bend." But he must also know 
the altitude of the sun which will cast a true forked shad- 
ow on a piece of duck, as pattern for a pair of trowsers ; he 
must work the American eagle and a true -lover's knot in 
blue yarn, to quilt his flannel shirt against the cold of the 
cape; he must plait the split palm-leaf into pointed sennit 
for his tarpaulin hat ; he must never want protection for his 
feet against cutting rocks, when his club can secure him 
a seal or sea-lion; he must stand by a shipmate in trouble; 
jump at the order of his officer, never "sodger," of all 
things, never question about God and his ways on deep 
water, and never flinch from the tallest kind of a row when 
the honor and good name of his mother or country are call- 
ed in question. Such was the teaching on the forehatch 
of the Chelsea, as we scudded past the mouth of the La 
Plata, and made preparation to meet the old Storm King 
who has his home in the Antarctic. 

As the days lengthened and the nights grew less dark, 
the more exact history of the business we were engaged in 
occupied many of the idle hours of the night- watch, our ship 
bowling along, without labor or care other than that of the 
man at the helm and the lookout on the bows. In this lore 
my special crony, Posey, delighted. To question him on 
the history of Nantucket, New Bedford, Sag Harbor, or New 
London, and of the famous captains who had fished in these 
beautiful towns, was to open the flood-gates of his knowl- 
edge. Often, on the quarter-deck and on the forecastle, he 
would talk to delighted audiences about the antiquity of our 
craft, and the high honor in which it had been held by great 
princes and powerful nations of the earth. Posey was a 



46 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

great favorite with officers and men. Never in the way, his 
hand and voice were always present when they were needed. 
He had auburn hair, and blue eyes, set in a broad, sanguine 
face \hence unaccountably, it was said, the ship-name of Po- 
sey), wearing an expression of sadness. Posey was a schol- 
arly man ; his hands were delicate, and he had a stoop which 
neatly fitted him to the low ceiling of our forecastle. He 
was not at all the beauty of the crew, and he had not come 
to sea to escape the " fool-catcher." He pulled the bow-oar 

in Mr. F 's larboard quarter-boat, and so was in direct 

line of promotion. His heart was in his work, and he used 
all his energy to win his way to the harpooner's place. No 
boat was lowered to practice on black-fish in which he was 
not a volunteer, and he was always on hand to aid in coiling 
line in the boat-tubs and in mounting and grinding harpoons 
and lances. In fact he was a ready hand for the hundred 
little details which go to complete the gear of a whale-boat. 
In a night-watch he confided to his companions the inspira- 
tion which sustained him, cheery and unwearied, in the hard, 
uncongenial life in which he was immersed. I was young 
and heart-whole, with my love in the wild, wandering life 
before me, and was amused, rather than interested, in the 
story which told of a young scholar from Vermont, who 
found home and occupation as master of a school in Nan- 
tucket. 

The old, old story it was — old as the Garden of Eden. A 
man met the woman he loved, and found, too late, that he 
could only win the daughter of a long line of the nobles of 
the island — the whaling-captains — by winning his knight- 
hood at the head of the whale-boat. A true daughter of the 
land, the girl desired the security of a home founded on the 
traditional harvest-field of her ancestors. How could it be 
helped ? She had been taught to refuse to dance with one 
who had not been fast to a whale, and never to accept a 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 



47 



hand which had not planted a harpoon. So, in due course, 
when he avowed his love, Katie, with a smile of encourage- 
ment, replied, " Dear Garvin " — that was his proper name — 
" sing that song to me after you have struck a sperm-whale, 
and it will sound more real." How could the bonnie lassie 
do otherwise? In her home she had been severely trained. 




NANTUCKET SOIIOOLINU. 



One day she saw her good mother throw a loving arm 

around her father, and say, 

" Jack, dear, one of us must go a- whaling, and I can't." 
"Why, what's up now, Dolly?" the briny old man asks. 
" There's low tide in the bread-kit, and another mouth is 



cominsi'. 



48 XIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

The dear old fellow stows his kit, kisses Dolly and the 
little ones, and, leaving a kiss for the coming stranger, goes 
to sea for a four years' voyage. 

Katie, with a daughter's love, looks into the mother's 
eyes, and says, 

" We're lonesome, now that father's gone." 

"Lonesome, dear? not a bit of it. We have a clean 
hearth and a husband at sea. What more can woman de- 
sire ?" 

In such a severe atmosphere no school-boy love could 
floiarish, but Posey had heroic stuff in him. The idea never 
entered his head to slip his cables and drift out of action. 
He recalled the servitude of Jacob for the woman he loved, 
and he said, "It is a little thing to serve one voyage for 

Kate ; and if I am only lucky enough to have Mr. F 

put me on a whale, I won't miss, be right sure." Such was 
Posey, the banished school-master. 

The starboard watch was on deck one day, when Posey 
gave us the following "key to Nantucket's success in the 
whale-fishery :" 

"From the first, our people clubbed their means to build 
or buy the vessel, and many of the necessary branches of la- 
bor were conducted by those immediately interested in the 
voyage. The young men of the island, with few exceptions, 
were brought lip to some trade necessary to the business. 
The rope-maker, the cooper, the blacksmith, in brief, the 
workmen, were either the owners of the vessels, or were con- 
nected with the families of the capitalists. While the ship 
and part of her owners were at sea, the remainder in inter- 
est were busily employed at home preparing an outfit for 
the succeeding voyage. The cooper, while employed in 
making the casks, took good care that they were of sound 
and seasoned wood, lest they might leak his oil in the long 
voyage; the blacksmith iorged the choicest iron in the 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 



49 




shank of the harpoon, 
which he knew, perhaps from actual 
experience, would be put to the se- 
verest test in wrenching and twist- 
ing, as the whale, in which he had a 
one-hundredth interest, was secured ; 

the rope-maker faithfully tested each yarn of the tow-line, 
to make certain that it would carry two hundred pounds' 
strain, for he knew that one weak inch in his work might 
lose to him his share in a fighting monster ; the very women 
and girls who made the clothing remembered in their toil 
that father, brother, or one yet dearer to them, might wear 
the garment, and extra stitches were lovingly thrown in to 
save the loss of button and prevent the ripping -of a seam. 
Thus the profits of the labor were enjoyed by those inter- 
ested in the fishery, and voyages were advantageous even 
when the price of oil was barely sufficient to pay the out- 
fit, estimating the labor as part of it. 

3 



50 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 



"How could the British capitalist, who required a net 
profit, compete with this industrious hive of co-operation- 
ists? His Government aided him by a bounty equal to $10 
per ton on the burden of his ship, protected him by excess- 
ive duties on American oil, and granted immunities to his 
seamen. All Avas in vain, and he was compelled to yield 
the field. Listen also to the words in praise of our whaler, 
penned by a hand that wielded harpoon and lance as suc- 
cessfully as the pen. Obed Macy, of Nantucket, tells us : 
' His youth and strength, his manhood and experience, are de- 
voted to a life of great labor and much peril. His boyhood 
anticipates such a life, and aspires after its highest responsi- 
bilities, while his age delights in recounting its incidents. 
For deeds of true valor, done without brutal excitement, but 
in the honest and lawful pursuit of a m^ans of livelihood, 
we may safely point to the life of the whaleman, and chal- 
lenge the world to produce a parallel. The widow and or- 
phan mourn not over his success; oppression and tyranny 
follow not in his paths; his wife and children reap .the re- 
ward of his toils and danger, and his prosperity is his coun- 
try's honor.' " 

" Every word of that is true," said the captain, who was 
listening to Posey, while his thoughts were doubtless soar- 
ing beyond the snow-capped Cordilleras, to a quiet home, 
and wife, children, and friends, near the distant hills of New 
England. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 51 



CHAPTER IV. 

A brave, righteous Man first Settler of Nantucket. — Early English and 
Dutch History of Whaling. — Bounties and Immunities granted by Brit- 
ain.— Captain Wilkes's Picture of American Whaling. — Preparation to 
weather the Cape. — Able Seamanship of our Whale Captains. — Con- 
stant Vigilance of Captain B , and slight Toss of Whalemen. — 

Where the Whaleman shows to best advantage. — Run to 62° S. lati- 
tude, and meet a favoring Gale. — The "Lay" and Fibre of a Cape 
Yarn : Hinton's last Passage around. — The great icy Barrier, and Home 
of- Mother Carey. — A Gale of Wind in the Ice. 

The first white who settled the island of Nantucket was 
Thomas Macy, a brave, righteous man, a hater of tyranny, 
a contemner of religious bigotry, a hero in every particular 
fibre of his being, right worthy of founding a community so 
virtuous, hardy, and adventurous, whose members by their 
lives have made their desert island a monument of human 
enterprise more enduring than bronze or marble. 

"Having my hand in," said the school-master, " I would 
like to reach down into the ages and show you how ancient 
is our craft, and how honorable it was held above all other 
commercial enterprises by the rulers of the Old World, and 
how desirable was the business to the governments of great 
nations. I would like to show you how princely bounties 
to the merchant, and privileged exemption to the mariners, 
have failed in hiring England's sea-dogs to hunt the grandest 
of ocean's game. Thus you may realize what the American 
has done, unaided save by his natural attributes, in winning 
unexampled success in this grand and hazardous vocation. 

" That our craft excited a lively interest in the English at 



52 NIMROB OF THE SEA; OR, 



a very early period in their commercial history, is shown 
by Alfred's account of Ohther's adventures ; and we find in 
Hakluyt's voyages that, in 1598, an honest merchant requests, 
in a letter to a friend of his, ' to be advised and directed in 
the course of killing a whale.' The answer conveyed the 
information that 'all the necessary officers were to be had 
from Biscay, whose people had pursued the hazardous busi- 
ness since a.d. 1390.' 

"The English went on, from 1598, unrivaled with their 
whale-fishery in Greenland, until 1612, when the Dutch first 
resorted thither; whereupon the English-Russia Company's 
ships seized the oil, fishing-tackle, etc., of the Dutch, and 
obliged them to return home, threatening that, if they were 
ever found in those seas thereafter, prizes would be made of 
their ships and cargoes. The English whalers claimed that 
their master, the King of Great Britain, had the sole right 
of the fishery, by virtue of the first discovery thereof. The 
natural result of this peculiarly English proceeding was, that 
in 1613, while the English sent thirteen ships, the Dutch sent 
eighteen ships, four of which were men-of-war of the States, 
and they fished in spite of the English companies' preten- 
sions. 

"In 1617 the quarrels ran very high between the English 
and the Dutch. The former persisted in seizing one part 
of the oil; and this is the first time mention is made that 
the fins or whalebone were taken home with the blubber, al- 
though probably before this date it came into use for wom- 
en's stays, etc., through the Biscay fishermen. The whales, 
never having been disturbed, resorted to the bays and the 
seas near the shores, and their blubber was easily landed, 
and the oil extracted in boilers which w T ere left standing 
from year to year. But after the violation of their sanctua- 
ry the whales became less frequent in the bays, and common- 
est among the ice farther from the land. The ships follow- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 53 

ed them thither, and the blubber could no longer be landed, 
but had to be cut from the floating whale in small pieces, 
and brought home in casks for boiling. The new method 
of fishing was often found dangerous to man, and perilous 
to shipping. So discouraged were the English adventurers, 
that they soon afterward relinquished the fishery, until the 
time of Charles II. In 1618, with respect to the whale-fish- 
ing of Holland, De Witte quotes Sievan Van Aitzma, who 
says 'that the whale-fishery to the northward employs about 
12,000 men at sea.' Anderson, in his 'Annals of Commerce,' 
treats this as an exaggeration. 

"In 1634 'The Dutch Greenland Company 'made an ex- 
periment of the possibility of human beings living through 
a whole winter at Spitzbergen, till then believed to be im- 
possible. They left seven of their sailors to winter there, 
one of whom kept a diary from the 11th day of September 
to the 26th of February following. The men were then 
down with the scurvy, and their limbs were benumbed with 
the cold, so that they could in no way help themselves. They 
were found dead in the house they had built for themselves, 
on the return of the ships in 1635. In 1670, Sir Joseph 
Child, in ' Discourses on Trade,' informs us that in ' the 
Greenland whale-fishery the Dutch and Hamburgers have 
annually four or five hundred ships, and the English only 
one ship last year, and none in the former one.' In an ac- 
count of the Dutch whale-fishery for forty-six years ending 
in 1721, we are informed that the 5886 voyages made had 
secured 32,906 whales, valued at £16,000,000, a clear gain 
out of the sea, mostly by the labor of the people. 

"In 1740 England made a determined effort to establish 
the business in her dominions. To this end she granted an 
additional bounty to those formerly established ; making in 
all thirty shillings per ton for each voyage on the ships em- 
ployed; and to induce her mariners to engage in the busi- 



54 NIMH OB OF' THE SEA; OB, 

ness it was enacted ' that no harpooner, line-manager, boat- 
steerer, or seaman in that service should be imj^ressed into 
the naval service.' Such immunity from the odious tyran- 
ny of the press-gang, Ave should think, would have flooded 
the whaling service with seamen ; but no ! the perils of this 
fishery were more terrible to the English imagination than 
forced service under the thunder of great guns. Eight years 
later, the bounty was increased to £2 per ton on the ships 
employed, and the foreigner was invited to do for England 
that which British seamen failed to do. The following was 
enacted : ' Foreign Protestants who shall serve three years 
on board British whale-fishery ships, and shall take the usu- 
al qualification oaths, shall be deemed natural born subjects 
of Great Britain to all intents and purposes, as far as other 
foreign Protestants can so be.' Such is the evidence that 
the 'jolly British sea-dogs,' the ' hearts of oak,' had no hank- 
ering for the whale fight, and that Britannia could not rule 
that" wave at least. Now the hand of the American whale- 
man is first felt in the markets of the world. Nantucket, 
in the year 1761, employed ten vessels of one hundred tons 
each; in 1762, fifteen vessels; in 1763, above eighty vessels; 
' whereupon,' says M'Pherson's Annals, ' the increase of the 
quantity of whalebone imported from New England to Brit- 
ain reduced the price of whalebone from £500 to £350 per 
ton.' From these annals we also learn that in the thirty- 
nine years to 1788 the whaling voyages made from Britain 
numbered 2874, and the sum expended from the treasury in 
bounties amounted to £1,687,902. 

" The British Government continued to manifest the live- 
liest solicitude in the development of the fishery, and in 
1795 the following additional bounties were granted: 'To 
the vessel proceeding to the Pacific Ocean, continuing four 
months upon the fishing -groiind, and, after being sixteen 
months out, having the greatest quantity of clear sperm-oil, 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 55 

£600 ; to each of the seven having the next greatest quan- 
tity, £500.' And it was fui'ther provided by the act of 
June 22, 1795, 'that foreigners, not exceeding forty in num- 
ber, who had previously been employed in the occupation 
of fishing for whales, and were owners of vessels, should be 
permitted to come to Milford Haven, in Pembrokeshire, with 
their families and vessels, not exceeding twenty in number, 
each vessel being manned by at least twelve seamen accus- 
tomed to the fishery. They were allowed to import their 
goods, furniture, and stock, duty free, on giving security for 
their residence at least three years in Great Britain. They 
were then entitled to the premiums granted to British fish- 
ermen, and in general to all the rights and privileges of 
natural-born subjects.' 

" Opposed to this picture, I quote Captain Wilkes : ' The 
American whaling - fleet now (in 1840) counts six hundred 
and seventy-five vessels, the greater part of which are ships 
of four hundred tons burden, amounting in all to two hun- 
dred thousand tons. The majority of these vessels cruise in 
the Pacific Ocean ; between sixteen and seventeen thousand 
of our countrymen are required to man them. The value of 
the fleet is estimated at not less than twenty-five millions of 
dollars, yielding an annual return of five millions, extracted 
from the ocean by hard toil, exposure, and danger.' This 
wonderful success of our whalemen has been achieved in 
the face of an almost complete destruction of the ships in 
the two wars with Great Britain, and entirely unaided by 
any particular encouragement by Government in the form 
of privileges or pecuniary aid." 

Having transgressed the directions of my good angel, and 
remembering that to become statistical is felonious, I beg 
your pardon, good reader, and promise to abstain therefrom 
most religiously hereafter. Posey has had his scholarly say, 
and we will clap a stopper on his tendency to figures. 



56 NIMliOD OF THE HE A; OH, 

Approaching the cape, the inexperienced were somewhat 
daunted by the preparations our prudent captain made to 
meet the boisterous nature of this passage from the east- 
ward. All the spars above the topmasts were sent down, 
the anchors taken from the bows, the stocks removed, and 
the ponderous iron securely lashed to the deck ring-bolts 
forward. Our boats were taken from the cranes and secured 
on the over-deck spars, spare topmast, and yards ; scuttle- 
butts were double-lashed ; and the cook's house was strength- 
ened by the proper disposition of the lighter spars. Mer- 
chantmen and hide-droghers may smile at such precautions 
on the part of whaling captains, especially considering the 
strength of their crews; but it must be kept in mind that 
we came to get oil, not to risk the ship in boastful display 
of fancy sailing. We frequent seas where repair of damage 
is difficult or impossible. Our resources are within our- 
selves, and we husband our strength until we arrive on the 
actual field of operations. 

A man-of-war's-man may anchor in the rollers in the bars 
of well-known harbors, and be held to her surging cables, 
with imminent risk to the ship and death to part of her crew, 
although, confessedly, to retrieve the error, they have but to 
slip their cables and drift into the calm harbor in full sight. 
Such was the case of the Vincennes on the bar of San 
Francisco; and another such lubberly feat sent the gallant 
Peacock to the bottom on the bar of Columbia River. No 
captain of a whale-ship would again sail in command who 
was guilty of such manifest ignorance of seamanship. The 
officers in this service are held to such strict accountability 
for the safe return of the ship, after the longest voyages, and 
the greatest actual sea-service, that their vigilance is inces- 
sant and unexampled. Loss by fire, or the powerful drift 
of currents during calm, or by the crushing of floating ice, 
may be shown to be unavoidable cause of wreck; but sel- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 57 



dom may a whaling captain plead stress of weather or error 
in reckoning, ignorance of entrance to harbors, or the dan- 
gers of bars, as a valid defense for the loss of his ship. I 
was continually impressed by the unceasing vigilance of 

Captain B to keep the exact run of the ship. The log 

was as regularly kept as though we ran by dead-reckoning ; 
and we were running almost in mid-ocean, with land hun- 
dreds of miles from our known position. Yet every clear 
night, or whenever a break in the clouds admitted the ob- 
servation, the captain would glide silently on deck, sextant 
in hand, and, taking his seat at the head of a quarter-boat, 
would abide his time to get his meridian by the passage of 
some star of the many brilliant constellations in the southern 
heavens. Not once, but perhaps several times in a night, he 
sat star-gazing and full of anxious care, while the thoughtless 
youngsters were listening to the song and the yarn, thinking 
of the good time the " old man " had, and wondering why 
captains grew gray-haired so early. The highest testimony 
to the seamanship of our whalemen is that the rate of insur- 
ance on the American is just one-half of that on the British 
vessels engaged in the service. In illustration of this point, 
Macy informs us that the whole number of Nantucket ves- 
sels lost, exclusive of captures in war, since the settlement of 
the island to 1835, is 168; viz., 78 sloops, 31 schooners, 18 
brigs, and 41 ships. Yet for many years Nantucket had 150 
ships at sea, on voyages of great length, and in distant, dan- 
gerous, and unexplored seas, unaided by correct charts or sail- 
ing directions. The loss of lives by wreck in this time was 
but 414. 

Unquestionably the seamanship of the American whaling 
captain is of the highest order in every respect, and many 
of the most successful and adventurous commanders of pack- 
et and clipper ships graduate in this school. The seamen 
educated in whaling have no superiors in the substantial el- 

3* 



58 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OB, 

ements of the sailor, although they may lack the jaunty tie 
of the cravat, the saucy cock of the new tarpaulin of other 
sailors, and may make less parade of their peculiarities on 
shore. To be sure, they are clumsy and rough as the walrus 
on dry land, but they only need the wash of deep blue wa- 
ter and the excitement of the chase to bring the true ele- 
ments of their -character to the surface. Xo one can witness 
the change which attends actual service in the boats, without 
astonishment. The dull, sluggish, and sleepy become full of 
animation, dash, and endurance. 

Fortunately our careful preparations were needless. We 
made what was considered a good passage going west, 
head-winds and the set of a head-current forcing us into 
62° S., when a cape gale from the south-east sent us scud- 
ding " norrard " at railroad speed. The log reported fifteen 
miles an hour, continued with a nearly equal rate for forty 
hours, and left us fairly round the cape with the broad Pa- 
cific before us. Many were the stories of prolonged storm 
and terrible suffering endured in the passage of the cape. 
At certain seasons the great south-west storms buffet the 
outward-bound ship for weeks, and she drifts before it, lay- 
ing to, and becoming unmanageable from the accumulation 
of ice on her hull and rigging. We youngsters had the ben- 
efit of a relation of these experiences, and consoled ourselves 
with the thought that it would be at least three years before 
we would again encounter the stormy cape. 

The following gorgeous and mythical story by Hinton 
will give an idea of the "lay" and fibre of a Cape Horn 
yarn : 

"We had made a good voyage. The Chelsea was full 
of oil, and we were homeward-bound. We had mounted a 
new suit of sails in Talcahuana — stay-sails, double-stitched 
— and the old beauty was in perfect trim, except that her 
copper was rolled up, and the grass and barnacles fouled 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 59 

her bottom, causing us to lose about two or three knots' 
headway. We got pretty well up with the cape, when a 
south-east gale struck us and headed us off. We battered 
against it for eight days, when we found ourselves in 68° S., 
and about 130° W. Here we came in sight of the great ice- 
barrier, extending far as the eye could reach, plumb up and 
down, two hundred feet or more. This was the great shin- 
ing wall, beyond which, we are told by the scientists of a 
couple of hundred years ago, lies the great open sea of the 
Antarctic, where dwell nations of mermen and maids ; kra- 
kens, with ' amethyst and golden antennas, of power and 
scope to entangle and draw down great ships ; and sea-ser- 
pents of hideous mien, and fathoms in length ;' where, in a 
wondrous palace of ice, dwells the southern ice-king, who 
drives the frost-fiends to labor on icebergs, and store treas- 
ures of the hail and snow; where the marmicle and mar- 
mate gambol in fields of the giant kelp, and herd the count- 
less shoals of mackerel and herring ; where the ivory-tooth- 
ed walrus and the shag-maned sea-lion keep guard over 
the nests of the uniformed penguin and the albatross : a 
sea, in whose calm waters the wounded whale finds sanctu- 
ary against the pursuit of the hunters of the open ocean. 
Here the worried whales find peace, and grow in blubber on 
the crimson carpets of medusa?. There are no threshers 
there to club the old backs ; no sword or saw fish to stab 
and scarify ; no Nimrods to harpoon and lance, to mangle, 
tear, and boil. Above this sea a six months' sun has four 
or five counterfeits, and paints the leaden sky with rings, 
and crosses, and crescents of colored fires ; and the six 
months' night is illumined by the coruscations of the aurora 
borealis. 

"In the centre of this sea is a circular marble throne, 
whose base has three hundred and sixty divisions, from 
which meridian lines run out and span the great world ; 



60 



NIMROD OF THE HE A; OR, 




THE SEA BEYOND THE SHINING WALL. 



ana from its centre rises a pole of electric light reaching 
upward into the heavens to the constellation of the South- 
ern Cross. On this throne sits Mother Carey, the fashioner 
and maker of millions upon millions of new creations of 
more varied shapes, colors, qualities, and functions than 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 61 

any but little children ever dreamed of. She sits quite still 
with her chin upon her hand, looking down into the sea 
with two great, grand blue eyes, as blue as the sea itself. 
Her hair is as white as the snow, for she is very, very old — 
in fact, as old as any thing which you are likely to come 
across, except the difference between right and wrong. 

" Such is the sea beyond the ice-barrier, as our fathers 
believed it to exist, even after Columbus taught the world 
How to make an egg stand on its end. 

" To come back to my story, however," Hinton continued: 
"As we stood by the ice-wall, the weather thickened, and a 
heavy snow shut out the ice. We were standing along un- 
der close-reefed maintop -sail, reefed courses, and try-sail. 
The spray of the sea went right to ice as it touched the 
deck and rigging. We were heading aslant the wall; it 
was still light enough to see that we were among floating 
•ice, and we could catch glimpses of the cloud-like outlines 
of great bergs, which it would be destruction to touch. 
The captain stood under the lee of the mainmast, his clothes 
covered with ice, giving orders to the men at the wheel. 
The wheel was double manned, and the mate stood by to 
see that the helm was well served. The wind was piping 
its strongest, and the combing seas were such as are only 
to be seen off Cape Horn. The drift and ice islands came 
on us thicker and faster. Once we passed to the windward 
of a great iceberg, higher than the mast-heads, and we held 
our breath as we listened to the thunder of the great waves, 
which one moment tossed our little craft, and the next burst 
with awful force against the ice under our lee. 

" We suffered very much from the cold ; our clothes were 
stiff with ice. We were dashing blindly on, but with good 
steerage-way, and the ship answered quickly to her helm, 
although she ran deep by the head on account of the accu- 
mulated ice on her bows and head-hamper. Now the cry 



62 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

came, ' Ice- ahead !' Then, on the weather or on the lee bow, 
the ponnding and grinding of the rocking bergs, the roar 
of the breakers, and the awful tone of the wind as it cut 
through the strained rigging, almost drowned the hoarse or- 
ders of the captain as they came through his trumpet. So 
we dashed through the darkness and blinding snow, every 
eye awake to watch for ice ; every ear expecting the crack 
of doom. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 63 



CHAPTER V. 

The Aurora Borealis, and Explanation. — Coleridge's Mistake in the "An- 
tient Mariner." — The Mother Carey's Chicken. — Ben moralizes on this 
little Bunch of Feathers. — Captain Folger's Luck. — The Devil no Match 
for a Gale of Wind off Cape Horn when the Skipper is bound to carry. — 
The Cape doubled, and we come on Cruising-ground. — Boats' Crews 
"Watches established. — Idle Time on Cruising-ground. — The Length of 
Cruises. — Fasten to our first Whale. — Crew behave well; the Whale 
killed. — Disappointed in Size of Whale. 

"At times the ship was almost on her beam-ends, and the 
sea was making clean breaches over 'the bows and waist. 
Great surges would leap in the air and drop on her deck, 
making our timbers, to the very keelson, twist and tremble. 
The poor ship groaned and complained like a sick man. 
Masses of ice, too, swept across with the water and carried 
away the rail and planking of the bulwarks. Suddenly the 
overborne ship righted and rolled easily on an even keel. So 
close were we under the lee of a great iceberg that Ave rode 
as if we were in a harbor ; but the roar of the storm was all 
around and above our heads. We drew slowly ahead, and 
came out into the storm again, but as far as we could see 
there was open water, and we felt as though we were saved. 
Toward morning it cleared away, and in the lull of the 
storm we could hear the puff of whales as they were mak- 
ing south for the icy wall. JJow and then a gleaming light 
w T ould play along the front of the great wall, and bring ev- 
ery crag and peak into radiant relief against the jet-black 
sky. Old Captain Davis said it was a beacon-light to guide 
every creature that sought its shelter. 



04 NIHROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

"The next day, with wind north-west, we stood for the 
cape, and saw no more of the ice-wall ; but the following 
night we saw a bow of shooting lights, reaching a great dis- 
tance across the sky, shooting and waving tender colors, now 
opening and shutting like a fan, now lighted up with crim- 
son fires. Oh, man alive! you should see this glory of the 
southern sky as we saw it that night, and you would dream, 
with John, that you were looking into the gates of the New 
Jerusalem ! I heard the old man say that these lights only 
reflected the brilliancy of the crystal palaces, and the colors 
of the bright waters of the sea beyond the shining wall." 

As Hinton concluded, some one recited from the " Antient 
Mariner :" 

"The ice was here, the ice was there, 
The ice was all around ; 
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, 
Like voices in a swound. 

At length did cross the albatross, 

Thorough the fog it came ; 
As if it had been a Christian soul, 

We hailed it in God's name. 

" It ate the food it ne'er had eat, 
And round and round it flew ; 
The ice did split in a thunder-fit, 
The helmsman steered us through." 

This started a discussion among the savants about the 
curious mistake the poet had made in attaching this su- 
perstition of a protective guidance to the great albatross, 
instead of to the little floating, skimming " Mother Carey's 
chicken." . „ 

"Why, you see," said Coffin, "the albatross carries such 
a spread of sail that he's busy enough takin' care of himself 
in a gale, and you find him huggin' close to the ship in good 
weather only, and then he's lookin' for grub. But the worse 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 65 

the gale the more chippy is this little black butterfly of a 
Mother Carey, and no man's heart feels lost while he sees 
the little specks finding a safe lee from the hurricane right 
under the comb of the breaking rollers. You young 'uns 
may laugh at me for soft, but I tell you when you get as old 
as me you'll know a darned sight less than you do now. In 
the worst gale I ever was in off Cape Horn, where the gales 
are the worst of any place in this world, a great sea ran from 
under the keel, and let the ship down so fast that you could 
hardly keep with her, and you'd grab the rigging to keep 
along. And when the ship struck the bottom of the trough 
with a chuck that made her tremble as if she had an ague 
fit, and the on-coming sea, high as the mainyard, was a-roll- 
in' down us with a hissin' comb, and the dark wall of water 
was so straight up that I thought it would breach thirty feet 
over us — in the very worst of this a whole flock of Mother 
Carey's chickens came down, hovering close under the break- 
ing white-cap, safe harbored from the blast. I thought of 
the promise that as the sparrows are cared for so would we 
be ; and whenever I saw these little bunches of black feath- 
ers playin' safe in the hollow of the sea, I never could get up 
much of a scare as to what would happen to me." Our men 
all felt that bad fortune would attend the killing of one of 
these little birds, and I found something of the same feeling 
among the sailors of other ships. 

Among the yarns of the cape, a favorite one with our 
crew was " the dismasting of the Ironsides under the lucky 
Captain Folger." 

" He was always lucky," said Harry, " and never more 
lucky than the night off Cape Horn when he lost every spar 
to the stumps, ten feet above deck. I'll tell you how it was. 
Ours was the luckiest ship that sailed from Nantucket, and 
the captain was the luckiest man that ever trod shoe-leath- 
er. He had made five voyages to the Pacific ; come homo 



06 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OB, 

full, ' Chock-a-block ;' never over two years out ; and he nev- 
er lost man, boat, or spar. There was not a boat-steerer but 
was glad to go on a one-hundredth ' lay,' and he'd get rich 
at that. I went with Folger on his sixth voyage, and steered 
Mr. Starbuck, the first mate. In twenty -one months we 
were off the cape, homeward-bound, try-works overboard, 
and every thing that would hold oil — case-bottles, captain's 
boots, and medicine-chest — was filled with head matter. We 
hadn't a man hurt, not even the skin scraped off a man's shin 
in the rigging, and that, you know, is extraordinary. Nor 
had we a plank started in a boat, or a spar sprung. The 
whales would seem to spout thick blood if they were struck 
forrard of the hump, and the main course would seem to furl 
itself in a gale. Something was wrong about the ship, and 
our good luck frightened us. Well, we were off the cape ; 
the night was as black as my hair, a stiffish breeze was 
over the quarter, and we headed free on a course, every sail 
drawing. 

"We. were makin' a splendid run, when Mr. Starbuck 
ordered top-gallant sails in ; but before we started halyards 
or sheets, Captain Folger put his head up the conqjanion- 
way and sung out, 'Stand fast there; belay all, and let her 
run. Excuse me, Mr. Starbuck, but I've the cards in my hand 
to-night, and mean to play the game out. Please crack on 
her as long as she'll carry.' So we forged on for half an 
hour, when the wind hauled abeam, and we braced the yards 
forrard. This brought us down, scuppers under. The cap- 
tain was on the weather quarter-deck holding on to the 
mizzen rigging ; Mr. Starbuck was opposite to him, leaning 
against the companion-way. Two men were at the helm. 
The old ship was brought to her best bearings for a run, 
and was plowing a wake of foaming light through the dark 
waves. The whistle of the wind was changing to a hoarse 
growl that meant business. Every thing was terribly strain- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 67 

ed, when the old man called across to the mate, ' This is heav- 
enly, Mr. Starbuck; heavenly breezes, sir; more heavenly 
than you have any idea of. Hold on to every stitch, but 
keep a sharp lookout to windward, and if you see any break 
in the gale, keep her off a point or two and get out storm- • 
sails.' We were gathered close to leeward, and thought the 
old man was clean daft ; but we had no help for it. 

"The wind piped stronger and stronger. Great white- 
combed seas burst out of the darkness to windward, smote 
us broadside on, and went roaring over the bows into- the 
night. . The snapping of the rigging and the creaking heard 
in the very heart of the mainmast told of the fearful work 
aloft. We stood every man alone with his fears. The only 
face we could see was the captain's, as a gleam from the bin- 
nacle-light fell on him. We were more frightened by his 
insane joy than by the gale, as every now and then he re- 
peated ' Heavenly breezes, Mr. Starbuck !' At this time it 
seemed as though nothing made by man could stand the 
strain. The ship seemed actually to leap from sea to sea, 
as you see the dolphin chase flying-fish. She never pitched, 
but, right flat to her work, she hissed through the water as 
though she were red-hot iron. Just then a new sound was 
heard away up in the darkness. It was like the angry snort 
of a locomotive on an up grade. Sharp and mad it came 
above the howl and rush of the storm. We could hardly 
help screaming as we looked up and saw two lights in the 
air right over the royal -yard. From this out my telling 
takes more time than the happening. 

"A voice, shrill as a steam-whistle, hailed from aloft: 

" ' On deck there !' 

" ' Ay, ay,' replied old Folger, calm, but glad as a boy. 

" ' Is Captain Folger on deck ?' 

"'At his post.' 

" ' Captain, I can't hold on much longer.' 



68 NIMliOD OF THE SEA; OR, 

"'Belay all, and hold on.' 

"And we dashed on, the crew gallied almost to death. 

" ' How do you head ?.' shouted the captain to the man at 
the wheel. 

" ' Steady on her course, sir ?' 

" ' How does she steer ?' 

" 'Easy as in a calm, sir; haven't shifted the wheel two 
spokes in the last hour !' 

" '"Good ; keep her steady ; and you to leeward there, keep 
a stiff upper lip and trust to me !' 

"And he called Mr. Starbuck over to him, and said : 

" ' I know the ties that are towing your thoughts home- 
ward to-night. Now if you love that wife and your chil- 
dren, as you hope to see them again, don't fail me now ; 
keep your eye to windward, and watch the wind; if you 
feel a lull to the moving of a feather the less, let me know 
it somehow, but don't speak it aloud for your soul's salva- 
tion.' 

"Again came the voice: 

" ' On deck there !' 

"'Ay, ay.' 

" ' Captain, release me. My punishment is more than I 
can bear.' 

" ' Remember your bond, and hold on.' 

"Here a broad flash of lightning illuminated sails, masts, 
and every line of the rigging, and the wild seas. Every 
thing for an instant was white in light, save a giant shadow 
Avhich seemed to hold the span, from the flying jib-boom to 
main-royal, in its wide clutch. This horrible thing stood 
black against the lighted storm ; and in the bellowing thun- 
der came the voice, 'I am dead beat!' At that moment the 
mate pointed a break to windward. 

"'May I let go, Captain Folger?' came from aloft in a 
choking sob, like the spout of a sperm-whale when he strati- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 71 

gles with thick blood. The captain, with a wild scream, 
cried, 

" ' In the name of God let go, and my soul is saved !' 

" And with a tearing crash the stays parted, and masts, 
sails, and the whole top-hamper of the Ironsides swept away 
to leeward, and were swallowed in the darkness, our poor 
ship rolling helpless in the trough of the sea. All of which 
goes to show that the de'il himself can't hold to a bargain, 
if he has a Cape Horn gale against him in it." 

Having made a good offing of the dreaded cape, we slant- 
ed along the coast of Patagonia and Chili, until we reached 
the southern limit of the " off shore " ground, in lat. 38° S., 
when it was announced that we had reached whale-ground, 
after a run of about three months. The passage accomplished, 
and the cruising begun, my journal becomes more regular, 
and the business of whaling will now occupy our attention. 

Feb. 7. Up to this time the crew has been divided into 
two watches. Now that we are on cruising-ground, a new 
disposition is made of our forces. Cruising on whaling- 
ground consists in running over as much space as the wind 
will permit during the hours of day, and remaining as im- 
movable as possible during the night. For this purpose we 
carry sail in the day, and at sunset take in sail, lying under 
jib, doubled-reefed top-sails, foresail, and spanker, with the 
mainyard aback. Thus a small force is required on deck 
during the night, and as the toil in the boats is excessive, 
the men are allowed all the rest and sleep that the nature 
of the service will allow. The crew is divided into four 
boat's-crew watches, headed by their respective boat-steer- 
ers. A single boat's crew has the deck by night, and two 
crews by day, strengthened by the cooper, carpenter, and 
cook, who do not stand night-watches. This gives the men 
three-fourths of the night below and one-half the day, when 
they are not in the boats. 



NIMBOD OF THE SEA; OH, 



No unnecessary work on sails and rigging is done on 
the cruising-ground, as all energies are husbanded for the 
emergencies which arise in the toilsome chase. Thus, after 
a long cruise, a whaler presents a woefully bleached and 
ragged appearance, with her ragged or well -patched sails 
and loose ratlines flying in the the wind, until scarce foot- 
hold is left to shin aloft. The seizings and servings are 
frayed and crazy, the canvas is blackened with the sooty 
smoke of burning scraps in the try-works, and the poor hull, 
with the damaged paint of her fancy work, is but a sorry 
ghost of the neat ship which left port perhaps eight months 
ago. In this condition, as she creeps into port to refit, our 
whaler is a subject of merriment and sport to green hide- 
droghers and simple merchantmen, who are seldom at sea 
long enough to soil the paint of their ships, or to get their 
sea-legs and the manners of deep soundings aboard. But 
think, dear reader, of eight long months with sea and sky 
alone above and about us ! Three-quarters of a long year, 
and not a glimpse of God's blessed land ! Might not these 
ephemera of the sea make allowance for us communicants 
with the wildernesses of the oceau? 

"Oh, wedding guest! this soul hath been 
Alone on the wide, wide sea : 
So lonely 'twas, that God himself 
Scarce seemed there to be." 

This 7th of February the life of the voyage commences. 
The morning watch washed down decks, manned the mast- 
heads, made sail, braced forward, and kept a lookout for 
whales — all the sharper, since yesterday we struck into great 
numbers of the floating mollusks, the "Portuguese man-of- 
war," and had great schools of fish (the albicon) about us. 
These are evidences that we are at such a meeting of the 
great oceanic currents as constitute the feeding-grounds of 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 11 

the sperm-whale. As the daylight revealed a sail to wind- 
ward, the captain, thinking the neighborhood too populous, 
ordered, " Up with your helm, and square in the yards," 
and we ran off to leeward. At 8 a.m. we raised sperm- 
whale on the starboard beam, luffed to the wind, and at 9 
lowered away all four boats. After a long following to lee- 
ward for twenty miles, the mate and second mate got iron 
into a fine bull whale. After a fierce struggle, he ran out 
one line and wrenched out the irons of the other, then com- 
ing to windward head out. The two unfortunate boats 
made desperate efforts to overhaul the flying game, but the 
whale made two miles to their one, and we should have lost 

him but for a favorite manoeuvre of Captain B , who lay 

well to windward for just such flying chances. We worked 
across so as to intercept the whale's course, and with sails 
and oars we stood directly in a line with his great square 
snout, which was thrown eight feet in the air at every spout. 
Tugging away at the bow-oar, I had no share in the sport 
until his great black head rushed into sight just outside my 
oar-blade, and his polished, glistening body rounded out as 
we swiftly passed. A slight backward check of the boat 
told that Chipman was at work, and two planted iron poles 
under the hump told us that we were fast. The thundering 
flaps of the whale's flukes, and the quantity of white foam 
and spray, are all I can recall of the instant preceding the 
rapid whirl of the boat, as it swung to the tow of the line, 
and followed the mad whale. Long John, midship oars- 
man, a little white about the gills, was disposed to be funny, 
and in a rather tremulous voice remarked that " his quid 
was shifted to the wrong side by the sudden jerk, and that 
was the reason he didn't trim the boat." The fact is, John, 
with some others of our crew, thought it was in order to 
jump overboard as soon as the irons were in the whale. 
But, on the whole, we did creditably, and Captain B had 



NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 



a word of encouragement for us. He said he had hopes that 
in time M r e would be steady, and to be depended on. 

A great many things were done with boat and lance in- 
comprehensible to me. I was alone responsible for the bow- 
oar, and I pulled and starned, as the rapid orders came 
from the captain or boat-steerer. In good time, thick blood 
was spouted, the flurry followed, and a dead whale, floating 
fin out, was lying ahead of our boat. We were still to lee- 
ward of the ship. She ran down, and luffed to the wirtd, 
with the foreyard aback. This brought the whale on the 
weather-side, with the tail toward the bows ; and then, by a 
curious arrangement of buoy and line, a heavy fluke-chain 
was secured around the small at the junction of the body 
with the flukes, while the other end, through a side hawse- 
hole, was brought to the windlass bitts. The cutting-in falls 
for the morrow's work. I had time to look over the side, 
and try to study a sperm-whale; but as he lay alongside, 
exposing but a small part of his bulk, I w r as disappointed in 
his apparent size. My notions regarding the leviathan had 
been somewhat loose, and I had a general idea that a whale 
was as large as a Pennsylvania barn. I set this fellow down 
as a baby, perhaps, but was disenchanted by a remark of the 
second mate that we would see few larger. Our capture was 
estimated at eighty-five bai'rels. That night we turned in 
with blistered hands but easy consciences. 

Feb. 8. The ship we had seen to windward ran down to 
speak us. As she approached it was plain that a whaler 
on the cruise could not be mistaken in her calling. The 
lai'ge number of beautiful boats on her cranes, the cumber- 
some try-works amidships, the two enormous blocks lashed 
to the mainmast-heads for " cutting-in " (or flensing, as the 
English writers term it), and the men at the mast-head, all 
proclaimed her occupation. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. W 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Phoenix, of Nantucket. — "Cutting-in" first Whale. — Boat-steerev 
goes over the Side to hook on. — Choice between drowning and Sharks. 
—Immense Power required. — Blanket-piece. — Misapprehension regard- 
ing Size corrected. — Deep Surgery. — The Head. — The Junk. — The 
Case, and the Bailing. — The Spermaceti Bath. — Contents of the Case. — 
Trying-out, and Ship drifting. — Bill in the Blubber-room. — Night Scene 
in trying-out. — The Suffering of this first Night. — But we will soon 
harden to that. — Want of Sleep. — Sleeping at Wheel and Mast-head. — 
Always tired, and never wide awake. — Moralizing on the same. 

Thus equipped, the Phoenix, of Nantucket, ran under our 
stern. She was commanded by Captain Huzzie, sixteen 
months out, with 1100 barrels of oil. On Saturday last she 
"took two whales, making 1*70 barrels. We reported clean 
hold, but grease alongside. We had no time for civilities, 
and, hastily touching hats, we parted company, she, with 
mast-heads manned, luffing to the wind as we turned to the 
hard work of cutting-in the whale. 

" Roused from repose, aloft the sailors swarm, 
And with their levers soon the windlass arm ; 
They lodge their bars, and wheel their engine round, 
At every turn the clanging pawls resound." 

The "cutting-in" of a large whale is truly a formidable un- 
dertaking. It is surgery, or dissection, on a gigantic scale, 
and the appliances are of corresponding magnitude and pow- 
er. From the head of the mast two great sheave-blocks 
depend, through which is run a Manila rope of about eight 
inches circumference. This passes through a corresponding 
traveling-block, to which, in the commencement of the op- 
eration, a heavy iron hook is attached by a clevis and bolitillj 



78 NIH110D OF THE SEA; OR, 

• 

The fall leads from the upper or fixed block to the windlass, 
around the smooth, hollowed end of which the necessary- 
number of turns are taken — all the men, save the cook and 
the men at mast-head and wheel, standing by to lend a hand. 
The whale is floating on its side on the starboard beam of 
the ship, and is hauled forward until the eye comes opposite 
the gangway. The rail and side-planks above the deck hav- 
ing been removed, this brings the first point of attack di- 
rectly under the tackles. Two narrow stages are slung 
over the side, on which, secured by waist, belt, and monkey- 
rope, the officers stand to cut, as may be needed, with sharp, 
broad-edged spades mounted on poles sixteen or more feet 
long. 

We begin by cutting a round hole in the tough forma- 
tion termed "white horse," about the eye. Then, by a 
semi-circular cut above, and to one side of the eye about 
two feet in radius, the first cut is prolonged toward 1he 
ship, so as to form a flap of about four feet in width. Now 
one of the boat-steerers appears, rigged in an old woolen 
suit, with woolen stockings — a material that grips the 
smooth skin of the whale and prevents the wearer from 
slipping. He has a monkey-rope about his waist, and when 
the tackle is overhauled until the hook is at the proper 
height, he descends on to the whale, and inserts the hook 
in the hole by the eye. This is drowning work when the 
sea is rough enough to wash heavily over the partly sub- 
merged whale ; it is arduous when the irregular roll of the 
mast-head sways and jerks the ponderous block and hook; 
it is dangerous when the roll of the ship and whale may 
catch the man between them ; and, lastly, it is unpleasant 
from the proximity of half a score of hungry sharks intent 
on blubber, but which are liable to mistake a floating head, 
leg, or arm for a part of the whale, and claim it as legit- 
nate toll. Against these inconveniences the spades of 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 81 

the officers and the management of the monkey-rope are 
guards. 

The hook is inserted and the order given " Haul taut and 
heave away." Sixteen men double manning the hand-spikes, 
responsively heave away at the powerful windlass, while 
the spades are busy under-cutting to free and tear up the 
eye-flap. The great surge of the rolling ship greatly aids in 
this effort, and soon the strip of blubber, termed the " blank- 
et," slowly moves upward. This is the moment seized by 
the artist in the illustration. The floating whale is shown 
with head partially dissevered, and with the spiral cuts which 
are to lead the unrolling of the blanket. When the cry 
of " To blocks " announces that the head of the blanket has 
reached three-fourths the height of the mainmast, the order 
is given to " Board blanket-piece." Now a boat-steerer, with 
a long, double-edged sword, mounted by a long, straight han- 
dle, and termed a " boarding-knife," makes a lunge at the 
swinging mass, cutting out an oval plug of blubber, through 
which the eye of the strap to the second tackle is thrust, 
and secured by a heavy oak toggle. Then the order is, 
heave away on the second tackle, and as soon as the strain 
is fairly taken by it, a second cut of the boarding-knife de- 
taches the upper blanket-piece, which is swung inboard, im- 
mediately over the main-hatch. Here it is lowered into the 
blubber-room, where a man awaits it with a hook to send 
the slippery end away to leeward, and pack the long pieces 
to the best advantage. Thus alternated, the two tackles re- 
lieve each other, and the windlass travels almost continuous- 
ly until four hundred and fifty or five hundred feet of blank- 
et, from four feet eight to eighteen inches in thickness, have 
passed from the symmetrical form of the whale into the con- 
fused, disagreeable mass in the blubber-room. 

While the huge carcass is being turned in the water by 
the unrolling of its valuable blanket, the officer on the for- 

4* 



82 NIMROD OF THE SEA ; OR, 

ward stage is carrying forward the spiral cut which reg- 
ulates the width of the blanket, and the older and more ex- 
perienced officer on the after stage is delicately amputating 
the head with his sharp spade. He slowly cuts his way 
through several feet of dark, red, coarse-fibred muscles, rope- 
like tendons, and blood-vessels through which a little boy 
might be propelled, and artistically cleaves his way to the 
junction of the vertebra with the head. Finally, he severs 
the thick coating of tough integuments, the head separates, 
and turns, curiously enough," the bony jaw upward, and the 
case and blow-hole below. Now is revealed the joint of the 
vertebra, like an exquisitely polished sphere of whitest ivo- 
ry, in diameter equal to a barrel. This great joint most im- 
pressed me with the monstrous proportions of the creature 
we had been tearing at with windlass, tackles, and spades all 
this long day. The head thus severed constitutes nearly one- 
third the length and a greater proportion of the actual bulk 
of the whale. It is allowed to float under the main-chains un- 
til the body is disposed of. After the body of a large whale 
is stripped to the vent, a second transverse section is made, 
and the great carcass, a mass of red flesh and white integ- 
uments, drifts slowly to windward, soiling the clean water 
with its slowly - oozing blood, and smoothing the surface 
with exuding oil. Accompanying it are flocks of albatross 
(" mollemokes ") and other birds above, while the surface 
of the deep appears cut and fretted by the high, sharp fins 
and lashing tails of troops of sharks, which ravenously bite 
at the mountain of food we have provided for them. 

The body disposed of, the head occupies our attention. 
The general form of this immense mass may be better seen 
in the different illustrations than from description. To ob- 
tain the valuable spermaceti with which it abounds, we dis- 
sect it into three parts — the "case," junk, and bony part. 
The latter, containing the skull and lower jaw-bone, is gen- 




BAILING THE " OASE." 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 85 

erally allowed to sink at once (save when teeth are needed to 
furnish ivory for "skrimshoning," or to trade with the islands). 
By reference to Fig. 3, page 168, a general idea of the parts 
may be obtained. The upper" part of the head, a, is term- 
ed the case; between this and the skull-bone is the great 
wedge-shaped mass, b. This is the junk; d forms the re- 
jected part; and in this figure the spiral cuts of the blanket 
are shown. The junk is first hauled in bodily, and thence 
aft out of the way until the case is bailed. This mass is 
surrounded, as is the entire head on the outside, by the 
tough, almost impenetrable white horse, several inches in 
thickness, which proves a secure armor against the harpoon. 
Its interior consists of a cellular formation, the walls of the 
cells running vertically and transversely, varying in thick- 
ness from a half-inch to two inches, and being formed of the 
same closely interlaced fibres of beautiful satin lustre and 
alabaster whiteness that constitute the white horse of the 
external head. The cells are of varying size, generally about 
four to eight inches between the separating layers of white 
horse, and are filled with an oily substance of a faint yel- 
lowish tint, translucent when warm, and rivaling in delicacy 
of flesh the interior of the ripest water-melon. The clear 
sweet oil follows every cut which is made into it. The oil- 
bearing flesh forms about one third of the mass, and in a 
lai-ge whale has yielded twenty-eight barrels — equal to three 
and a half tons. This would make such a junk about ten 
and a half tons' weight. 

The case has, besides the respiratory canal (which is 
about twelve inches in diameter), a cavity about twenty feet 
in depth, filled with oil, which we bail out with buckets. 
To this end the iron hooks are again attached to the cut- 
ting -in tackles, and are inserted in the white horse of 
the sides. The end of the case is then hauled up to keep 
the seas from reaching the opening made in it for bailing. 



86 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

A whip-block is placed directly over the opening; a long, 
narrow bucket is attached to the end of the fall ; and a man 
stands on the square-cut end, with a long, slender pole to 
push the bucket into this well of flesh. 

On being withdrawn, the bucket is filled with transparent 
spermaceti, mixed with the soft, silky integuments, and pos- 
sessing the odor of the new-drawn milk of our home dairies. 
With our hands blistered yesterday by the oar, and all on 
fire- to-day by the harsh friction of the handspike, it was lux- 
urious to wade deep in the try-pots filled with this odorous 
unguent, in order to squeeze and strain out the fibres, which, 
if allowed to remain, would char with the heat, and darken 
the oil. No king of earth, even Solomon in all his glory, 
could command such a bath. I almost fell in love with the 
touch of my own poor legs, as I stroked the precious oint- 
ment from the skin. 

A case has been known to yield twenty-three barrels of 
this purest of spermaceti — equal to nearly three tons. As 
it constitutes less than one-sixth the mass, a case may be es- 
timated at eighteen tons' weight. Add to this the weight 
of the junk, the skull, and jaws, and an idea may be gather- 
ed of the head of a sperm-whale. I would remark that in 
modern ships the increased power of the patent windlass 
enables the fortunate possessors to heave the case in- 
board and bail it on deck by opening it longitudinally, thus 
saving much precious oil. By our system of bailing, the 
depth of the bucket was left in the bottom of the well. 
However, the utmost power of the Chelsea could not have 
brought this case on to the deck. When the case is bail- 
ed, the hold is cut away, and, with a solemn plunge, the gi-eat 
mass sinks into the sea, the white-marble surface changing 
to a purest azure until it sinks from sight. 

Now the try-works are brought into play. The boat- 
crew's watch of yesterday gives way to starboard and lar- 




TRYING OUT. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. si) 

board watches, and the watches on deck and below are pro- 
longed to six hours each. The works are started on the oil 
of the head, which is termed " head matter." As this was 
our first whale, it was necessary to use wood as fuel, until 
we could get the brown doughnut-looking " scraps " out of 
the remains of the blubber after the oil is boiled out. These 
scraps are the proper fuel of the try-works, and are al- 
ways more than sufficient to cook the oil of the whale, so 
that a quantity remains, and is carried forward to start the 
works on the next. At six bells in the evening, one watch 
of tired men hurry below, " to sleep, perchance to dream ;" 
and the other, just as wearied, have before them six hours 
of labor. The mainyard is aback, mainsail furled, topsails 
reefed, and the ship rolls lazily on a drifting course to lee- 
ward. The duties of the watch are thus divided : One man 
is in the blubber-room with knife and spade to cleanse the 
skinny parts and flesh from the blanket, and to reduce it into 
long narrow pieces, say six by twenty-four inches, termed 
" horse - pieces." These are tossed to the deck above, and 
conveyed by another man to the " mincing - horse," where 
they are sliced into thin leaves, which adhere by the tough 
inner integument, and are called " books." In this form the 
blubber passes to the try-pots. The duty of the boat-steer- 
ers and the mate, who heads the watch, is to attend to this 
boiling, as the value of the' oil is materially affected by the 
care used in preserving its light color. 

The night scene on the deck of a whaler while she is 
engaged in trying-out is weird -like in the extreme. The 
black smoke from the burning scraps, lighted by the red 
flames which issue from the flues ; the tracery of masts, 
spars, and sails, sometimes brightly lit up as in the roll of 
the, ship the boiling oil overflows into the furnaces, and 
sends a broad flame half-mast high ; the blood-red reflections 
from the sea-caps ; the diabolical appearance of the stokers 



Illlllllll"'-- 

"90 NIMliOD OF THE SEA; OR, 

and deck-hands, make a picture which might grace a vision 
of Dante's " Inferno !" Oh, the horrible memory of that first 
night's trying-out! The soreness and fatigue of the long 
hours of extreme toil; the deathly drowse that comes over 
one while standing, or mechanically performing some mo- 
notonous duty; the sliding of the bare feet over the greasy 
deck in pools of greasy and foul water ; the dirty clothes, 
cold and clammy from the saturating oil ; the glare of the 
fierce flames, with the impenetrable gloom of the night be- 
yond — hell before, and heaven shut from view, as it were ; 
the acrid, choking smoke ; the sooty deposit in nostril and 
on palate ; the harsh commands of officers, and the fierce im- 
precations of overtasked men — all tended to fill six hours 
with wretchedness greater than I have ever since experi- 
enced. 

But they tell me one soon gets bravely over such senti- 
mental tenderness, and the fatigue, the smear of blood, oil, 
and dirt. The stench and the foul oath will become a mat- 
ter of course. I am promised that I shall bo habituated to 
all, save the tyrannical hold of the awful drowsiness which 
pours lead through the veins of the sailor : 

" Oh sleep ! it is a gentle thing, 

Beloved from pole to pole ! 
To Mary, Queen, the praise be given, 
She sent the gentle sleep from heaven, 

That slid into my soul." 

It may appear that we have time enough for sleep, stand- 
ing watch and watch, or half our time below ; yet remem- 
ber that our best sleep is in snatches of four hours each, 
and that even these intervals are broken by the crowding 
thoughts of the past. The tired sailor, as he tumbles into 
his coarse, straw -lined bunk, loses precious moments in 
dreams of home and of love, so much at variance with his 
bitter surroundings. As a consequence, awaking at mid- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 91 

night from his short nap to the duties of the steersman, his 
nodding head bows to the dancing compass, and the ship 
luffs, to wake him by the flapping of the sails aloft. Up 
goes the helm, and he again sleeps until aroused by the cry 
of the mate, " Mind your helm there, and keep her steady." 
"Ay, ay, sir;" and, in spite of the mate's little thunder, the 
sailor has another nap, and the sails again shiver in the wind. 
The drowsiness is also felt in other ways. One may sit 
across the slender swaying " royal-yard," with the bare feet 
dangling in space a hundred and twenty feet over the sea, 
the thin shroud-stay fitted in the groove of the shoulders, 
and one arm hooked in the halyard. Thus the sleepy " look- 
out " swings, " rocked by the billows to and fro," and, in 
spite of the awful danger, his eyes close. Wrapped in ob- 
livion as sweet as in bed of down, he sleeps, preserved from 
positive danger by the self-poise and wakeful instinct of the 
perched bird (perhaps). No officer observing a man in this 
position will call to him, lest, with the habit of instant obedi- 
ence, the unfortunate should, with the routine "Ay, ay, sir," 
start from his narrow perch to almost certain death. The 
feeling of nervousness and sleepiness is chronic in the whale- 
man's life on an active cruise over hunting-grounds. 

Consider their hardships, you good souls who are truly 
concerned for Jack's temporal and spiritual welfare, and 
don't give him over to perdition for his thoughtless carouse, 
when he is first thrown from the privations of the sea into 
the allurements and temptations of the shore. Remember that 
he has endured long months, in which the disagreeable has 
only been varied by the dangerous, in which he has ranked 
next below the captain's dog. Make allowance for this poor 
waif of the sea, when the land-sharks, the keeper of the grog- 
shop or the brothel, entice him with false smiles, and with 
open hand of cheery welcome lead him through the gates of 
hell. Now, I ask you, why should he not enter ? All other 



92 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OB, 

gates are hermetically sealed to him. A simple glimpse or 
hope of heaven is shut out from him by the coldness of even 
Heaven's ministers, and the gates of the Inferno seem invit- 
ing, when viewed from the forecastle of many a whale-ship 
just in from an eight -months' cruise. Good temperance- 
man as you are, would you dash the cup of temporary obliv- 
ion from this poor wretch's lips? You say "it steals his 
brains." Exactly ; that he desires. With a shilling's worth, 
he becomes a man ; with twice that quantity, the old boy- 
hood is with him again ; with thrice that, he staggers down 
the street, and, with his thumb in his armpit, tips his tar- 
paulin to his captain, bites his thumb-nail at the port ad- 
miral, and votes the President a lubber. He feels, for the 
time, " every inch a man." 

Your warning that "he endangers life " has no weight 
with a being who lives hourly with his life in his hand. 
Don't plead the joys or duty of life to him who, to save his 
life, will not waver a step from the line of duty. You preach 
never so well of Heaven, and plead for his soul in the ac- 
cepted ways of the churches; but your good words and 
ways fall weak and meaningless on the ear of the man who 
lives habitually in the presence of God's mightiest works, 
and who, in the lonely nightwatches of the silent sea, is 
forced into communion with the Divine Authority for all 
things. Careless, thoughtless, and wicked as the sailor may 
seem, it was not a bad impression I received in my dis- 
courses with many seamen in the nightwatches. 



THE A3IEBICAN WHALEMAN. 93 



CHAPTER VII. 

How to save Jack. — Mr. Deil, of Honolulu, tried successfully. — Run down 
the Coast. — View of the Cordilleras. — Disappointed in the first View of 
Peru. — Touched at Callao, and ran on to Payta. — Captain ran counter 
to the Laws. — Chipman prepares to defend the Boat. — Pistol and Lance 
drawn. — Liberty on Shore, and Effects of Aguadiente. — Adjourn to the 
Calaboose. — Africa against Peru. — Chips joins the Company in poetic 
Mood. — The good Captain's Advice and Warning. — Sail from Payta, 
and anchor at Galapagos. 

To save Jack from himself, we must better his conditions 
of existence; to save him from the evils that beset him on 
shore, we must reform ourselves, and be willing to reach out 
the brotherly hand to welcome him on land, and to a better 
life. We must develop his manhood and self-respect, and 
thus lead him to a life of decency. These views are strength- 
ened by the remembrance of the services of the good and 
truly Christian seaman's chaplain at Honolulu, Sandwich Isl- 
ands, the Rev. Mr. Deil, and the very marked effect his la- 
bors had among the crowds of whalemen who frequent that 
poi't on their passage to the distant grounds of Japan. He 
boarded every ship in advance of the sharks, and extended 
the welcome of a brother to the humblest and worst. Sit- 
ting on a chest in the forecastle, he would inquire about the 
voyage and the men's needs, informing them that a good li- 
brary and a quiet, comfortable reading-room, with facilities 
for writing home, were provided ashore. He not only in- 
vited the men to these privileges, but also to his home, where 
he said he would be glad to see them, and he generally left 
a Bible for each man desiring one. And let me here alarm 
the Christian hearts of the American people by informing 



9i NIMEOD OF THE SEA ; Oli, 

them that in no other Christian port on the west coast of 
America was there a door to welcome or a roof to shelter the 
sixteen thousand souls engaged in whaling, other than that of 
a gaming-house, a grog-shop, or a brothel. The influence of 
this good shepherd was remarkable, and gave me an oppor- 
tunity to contrast the partial decency and good behavior of 
men in this port with their reckless abandonment to the ex- 
tremes of wickedness in other Pacific ports. I believe he 
labored, nevertheless, under discouragement, caused by the 
wrong-doing surrounding him. He has gone to his sure 
reward, gratefully remembered by many a sailor, on whose 
path he shed a ray of genial light. 

The whale stowed us eighty-five barrels of oil ; and when 
the first part of our work was complete, we scoured down 
the decks with sand from America and the alkaline cinders 
remaining from the burned scraps of the try-works. We 
rubbed and scrubbed, and drenched decks, stanchions, and 
bits, until there was not a suspicion of gi'ease to tell the 
story of the pandemonium of last week. We now proceed- 
ed on our cruise down the coast of Chili and Peru, keeping 
quite close in. Standing off shore during the day, we head- 
ed in during the night, a course which afforded us several 
magnificent views of the mountain chain of the Andes. In 
the early morning this lofty range, rising to sixteen or 
eighteen thousand feet, intercepted the rays of the sun, and 
its broken, rugged outline stood in bold relief against the 
luminous sky. As the sun climbed higher, the cloud colors 
softened the sharpness of the mountain summits ; and a mo- 
ment later, when the sun appeared above the heights, the 
whole magnificent scene, volcanic peak and snow-clad cliff, 
seemed to melt into thin air, and was lost to us until the 
following morning. The first view of the varied sandy and 
rocky shore of Peru was a bitter disappointment to me. 
Ignorantly I had clothed all parts of the tropical world 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. &7 

with luxuriant vegetation, while here, for hundreds of miles, 
not a trace of leaf or shrub was discernible from the ship's 
deck : a great desolate stretch, without a sign of life. And 
this was the home of the Incas ! 

We passed leisurely down this coast, much enjoying the 
tranquillity of the seas, the constant clear, dry weather, and 
the grand panorama of mountain scenery. But we saw no 
whales. Touching at Callao only to send a boat in to com- 
municate with the Brandywine, frigate, we stood down the 
coast for the port of Payta, crossing several schools of 
whales without making a single capture. In running into 
the harbor, we spoke the WashonJc, of Falmouth, whose 
tragical history will fill a future page. We hailed, " Five 
months from home, with eighty-five barrels of oil." 

These five months seemed interminable to the youngsters. 
We longed for the land — for any land in any clime. A ver- 
itable homesickness it was that came over us. We were 
of the dust, and unto dust we would return. But the 
cruel captain said " nay " to our pleading looks, for he was 
not unnaturally anxious to report more than a single whale 
before the anchor went down. . Yet, good soul that he 
was, he could not refuse his " merrie men " a taste of the 
earth's fruits ; and while we were lying-to he sent a boat 
on board a whale - ship at anchor, and bought a load of 
onions and sweet -potatoes. His proceeding, it seemed, 
however, was contrary to a port regulation requiring ves- 
sels to come to anchor and pay port dues before purchasing 
supplies. 

The captain, after his trifling trade, proceeded to shore, 
and left us to take the vegetables on board, and then return 
for him. Our proceedings were watched from a Peruvian 
armed vessel, the Libertad; and when we were returning 
for the captain her boat put off with evident intent to inter- 
cept us. But it was not in the timber of any man-of-war's 



94 



96 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

boat to hold her own in chase with a whale-boat. Chipman 
stood in our stem, and sprung on the after -oar, in order 
that we might gain all time possible in getting the old man 
aboard before our pursuers could reach the shore. "We 
passed across their course at full spring, as though we were 
going on to a whale, inattentive to the Spanish hail that 
came after us. Chipman could not "sabe Spanish," and he- 
consigned the men-of-war's men to regions more torrid than 
Peru, at the same time urging us to pull faster. It was but 
a mile's distance to the shore, and we had time enough, if the 
captain was only on hand. We shot up to the pier in a few 
minutes, but he was not to be seen. A man was hurried to 
the consul's house to find him, and meanwhile the mud- 
turtle in chase hauled alongside. A Spanish sailor laid his 
hand on our gunwale, as though to seize the boat. " Put 
your boat-hook through that hand," said Chipman, coolly ; 
and, in obedience to orders, the point of the hook was struck 
deep into the wood, from which the frightened sefior has- 
tily jerked his hand. The lieutenant in command of the 
Spaniards, with a "carrajo," tumbled from his stern-sheets 
clumsily to the pier, and drawing a pistol from his belt, 
more by his motions than by the clearness of his lingo, gave 
us to understand that we must surrender the boat. Chip- 
man had quietly obtained a lance, and had slipped the wood- 
en sheath from the head, and when the officer gave a dan- 
gerous direction to his pistol, the whaleman's favorite weap- 
on was poised in the air, in the hand of a cool, determined 
fellow, who seldom missed his mark. The Spaniard cocked 
his pistol, and in broken English said, " Get out." In very 
excellent and time-honored English, Chipman bade him "go 
to Jericho !" With hurried aim, and a visibly trembling 
hand, the trigger was pulled, a cap snapped, and the Span- 
ish officer's billet for Paradise, signed and sealed, was al- 
most delivered from the point of a whale lance, when the 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 97 

voice of Captain B was heard shouting, " Put up that 

lance, and surrender the boat." 

The capture of the boat and the detention of the captain 
necessitated the anchorage of the shij), much to the content- 
ment of the writer and all the rest. How the captain set- 
tled with the authorities was none of our business. We 
were too busy for a fortnight in repairing ship to trouble 
ourselves with international difficulties and treaties. At the 
end of this time, with hull new painted, rigging set up and 
tarred down, masts scraped, and yards squared by the lifts, 
man-of-war fashion, the Chelsea rode at anchor again in all 
her yacht-like beauty. The port of Payta is a favorite re- 
sort of the offshore cruisers, as the harbor is good, the sup- 
plies of vegetables reasonably abundant, and not high-priced. 
We took in a large supply of sweet-potatoes, onions, yams, 
and pumpkins, and fruits for immediate use. After this we 
were allowed liberty on shore, and had an opportunity, as 
far as a few dollars advance-money would go, to realize the 
fleas, dirt, discomfort, and vice which characterize a Spanish 
refuge for recruiting whalemen. The women are homely, 
the men beneath contempt; and what more could a captain 
desire for the safety and enjoyment of thirty-two free and 
enlightened citizens a-pleasuring in the Pacific ? Perhaps I 
ought to draw a pen through this page of the journal, but 
honesty and truth require the confession that the first day's 
liberty of the starboard watch was a little given to riot. 

May 8th my jouimal reads : " Got up with a swimming 
in the head. It seems to me that the smooth water of the 
harbor produces sea-sickness in all deep-water fellows. As 
I don't feel like writing, my Hinglish friend, Charlie, volun- 
teers to write up my day's work. Thus runs his entry: 
• Starboard watch on liberty. Up to four bells last night, 
Bill was right as a trivet, when the boys at the "mizzen- 
top" toasted the "Philadelphia bar, where choice spirits do 

5 



'.II 



98 



NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 



abound." Bill, as in duty 
bound, responded as fol- 
lows — ' But I will not give 
Charlie's quotation from my 
worthless speech, which I 
was sorry for afterward. 
From the snug quarters of 
the mizzen-top I believe the 
meeting described adjourned 
to a dimly-lighted calaboose 
(or watch-house) in the town. 
It was not clear to us how 
matters came about ; but 
some yarn about the Amei'- 
ican consul's wanting us 
brought us to the door of 
the barrack and calaboose. 
After a little row with the 
armed soldiers, we found 
ourselves inside a bamboo 
house on one of the usual 
flea-ridden, dusty floors com- 
mon in this town. In the 
stocks to the right of the en- 
V trance were three pisanoes, 
who had brought the fruits 
of their little gardens to this 
morning's market, and had been seized by a press-gang, 
and destined for transfer to-morrow to the decks of the 
Libertad, to serve as sailors. The poor fellows were sad 
enough. Perhaps their people would never learn their fate. 
As the prisoners were Indians, one of our boys, a black, 
became sadly afraid that he might be spirited away also. 
Our mischief- loving Smith, who " sabe'd Spanish," primed 




THE PEISO.NEK. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. n {>l 

the guard with the yarn that the black was a desperado, 
and had been the death of "Indianos muchos." As the 
frightened fellow unintentionally slanted toward a pile of 
spears, the soldiers thought his bad fit was coming on 
strong. The scene came to a head in our black boy's 
gradually backing against an arms -rack, and watching 
the soldiers as closely as they watched him. At last his 
drunken, frightened brain thought that he was surrounded 
and entrapped, "and he plucked down a lance, with a wild 
yell charging for one of the frightened Indians. We inter- 
fered now, and quieted the excited fellow by promising to 
see him safe on board the Chelsea. 

Late in the night, or early morning, as tolled by the bell 
of the cathedral, we heard our mother English in plaintive, 
maudlin tones in the street, and made it out as old " Chips," 
the carpenter. In a boosy sing-song he was pleading his 
cause. The door was thrown open, and his venerable head 
nodded to us as he leaned against the door. There he stared 
at the poor fellows in the stocks. He had us very much 
mixed up evidently, and he staggered helplessly, hopelessly 
forward, and threw himself on the low platform where the 
sergeant of the guard was trying to sleep. The worthy 
officer took umbrage, and then ensued a wonderfully con- 
fused intermingling of English and Spanish maledictions, 
as the mad Spaniard and the tipsy Yankee squirmed for 
possession of the narrow shelf. We interfered to keep off 
the soldiers from molesting our old shipmates. "Blood 
will tell, the world over," and Don Emanuel was tumbled 
out of bed much as the callow sparrow is by the unfledged 
cuckoo. We sprang in and seized the arm of the furious 
don, to prevent him from carving the figure-head of Chips 
with his sword, the carpenter himself meantime sitting on 
his conquest, and crowing like a game-cock. After this in- 
cident, until morning, on some pretext or other, we managed 



94 

-ol» NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

to keep up a row, and gave the " Spanioles " not a moment 
of rest. At times things looked serious, but Payta soldiers 
are slow to push a quarrel to extremities with a party of 
sailors as strong as ours was. As morning approached, we 
learned the secret of our arrest. It proved to be a little 
private speculation of the little garrison of the place. They 
had arrested and brought us to their barrack-room in the 
hope that we would offer them a dollar or more to be let off. 
As we made no advances in that direction, they gave us 
to understand that " une peaso " would open the door to the 
donor; but we could see in a dollar more enjoyment than 
Manning an early morning's walk in the empty streets of 
Payta. Therefore, in the gentle terms of our nation, we 
declined, much to the disgust of our hosts. 

At sunrise our worthy captain appeared in the market of 
the Plaza on which our calaboose fronted, and catching a 
sight of so many of his crew through the open door, he 
went off in one of his pious tantrums, using so few strong 
words that his spiritual health was more endangered, per- 
haps, than if he had freely used his breath in sea-lingo. 

Such was my only night in a Peruvian calaboose, and the 
experience may account for the lapses in my Payta journal. 

The good captain called me into his cabin soon after, and 
said, 

" Bill, you were brought up a Quaker, weren't you ?" 

" Yes," I answered, shortly. 

Flushing up, he demanded, 

"How's that? Yes, sir, is the answei^I expect in this 
cabin." 

" I beg your pardon, sir, I forgot. I was thinking I was 
a Quaker again." 

He smiled good-naturedly, and then lectured me thus : 

" I sent for you to warn you against rum. You risk your 
soul sure, and you lose all chance of promotion in my ship. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 101 

If you are not man enough to keep clear of rum entirely — 
entirely, mind — I won't have you at the head, of my boat. 
Now, go forward." 

" Captain B ," I replied, " I am very much obliged to 

you for manifesting such interest in me. I will remember 
and profit by your advice." 

"All right; I believe you," he added; and so we parted. 
For the first time I bad the thought that my good friend 
Draper had not only secured me my berth, but had bespoken 
the care of the worthy captain. 

"May 12. Having had our fill of this wretched land, we 
weighed anchor and stood out from the arid, treeless shores 
of Payta, bound for Cocos Island, in 10° 1ST. lat., for water, 
stopping at the Galapagos Islands, en route to secure a store 
of terrapin. The second day from port we took two whales. 
No peculiar incident lent an interest to the capture, but 
they increased our oil to one hundred and forty barrels. In 
a few days we dropped anchor in the harbor of Porter Isl- 
ands, a favored resort of Commodore Porter, commanding 
the frio-ate Essex during the last war with Great Britain." 



/ 

102 N1MROD OF THE UFA; OH, 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Volcanic Desolation. — To Black Beach for Terrapins. — We reject Green 
Turtle. — StraDge new Life. — Town ho! — First Terrapin. — Alive Knap- 
sack. — Grandfather as an Angler. - — Supper in Camp. — Terrapin and 
Iguana. — Jim Sellers's Philosophy, and probationary State for Cap- 
tains. — Watch by the Camp-fires. — Breakfast, and proper Stowage of 
Grub. — A Cruise up into the Island. — The Voice of the Terrapin is 
heard in the Land. — Brown and the Sculptor. 

The appearance of these volcanic islands is the extreme 
opposite of my prior conceptions of tropical scenery, but 
they fully realize the desolation of an earth born of fire. 
The jagged peaks shoot into the air almost devoid of vege- 
tation. In places the sky outline is broken by gigantic cy- 
lindrical, or flat-stemmed cacti, whose rigid forms and blunt 
terminations are only suggestive of dead, branchless trees. 
Along the shores at intervals are stunted growths of brownish 
foliage, and at the projecting points black, shapeless masses 
of lava. My dreams of the verdure and bloom of the tropics 
seem as though they are never to be satisfied. But, as 
Posey remarks, it was not for scenery we came in, and we 
will find the best fruits of this paradise running on four 
feet, and packed away in shells. The old hands long since 
whetted our appetites by toothsome talk of the land-terra- 
pin of these islands, and we cheerfully lent a hand in prep- 
arations for an early start to Black Beach, a few miles from 
the anchorage, to seek the delicate game. 

Two old boats were selected, stored, and swung alongside. 
Long before day-dawn, the call of " all hands turn out for 
shore duty," started the crew into active life. A hurried 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 103 

breakfast disposed of, the two mates, with ten men, were 
soon bending to the long, sweeping oars of the whale-boat. 
A pulling song and chorus marked time to the stroke, and 
awakened echoes in the lava -cliffs of the near shore, and 
seemingly responsive cries in the sea-birds and seals. As 
day revealed the jutting rocks, we kept nearer inshore, and 
on the points and beaches saw numbers of seals and large 
turtles, the former so fearless that they took no alarm at the 
passing boats. Philosophic-looking pelicans, perhaps brood- 
ing over piscatorial theories, crowned the rocks, and great 
gatherings of gannet and boobies flew screaming over our 
heads. A narrow beach of dark olive-colored sand marked 
our landing-place, where we ran the boats ashore, unloaded 
them, and drew them up out of harm's way, erecting a shel- 
ter out of an old top-gallant sail. We left two men to pre- 
pare camp, while the rest started for the back country to 
hunt terrapin, the order being to prepare the first one cap- 
tured for our dinner. We became very fastidious on terra- 
pin-ground, and were above green turtle — considering them 
somewhat coarse food, suitable, no doubt, for aldermen and 
others of the shark family. So we left the flat-shelled fel- 
lows sprawling on the beaches behind us, with the hope that 
at some time they might be made into soup for hunters less 
epicurean than we. 

After getting on our stout shoes, the first worn since we 
left the shores of America, we clambered over a rocky way 
which skirted the beach, and struck into a pathway tramped 
upon first, perchance, by Sir Francis Drake. A short dis- 
tance inland we spread abroad among the scant bushes to 
hunt our slow -going game. Every thing about was so 
strange that each step revealed new objects of interest. The 
purely volcanic nature of the rocks and soil; the enormous 
spiny cactus; the broad-palmed prickly pear; the aromatic 
foliage ; the great iguanas nodding good-morning to me, or 



104 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

running noisily through the dried grass to a neighboring 
hole ; the multitudes -of curious, bright-colored lizards skip- 
ping over the burned rocks, and the tameness of the pretty- 
doves which confidently alighted on ray shoulders — all gave 
a charming variety to my first walk on this prolific field of 
new life, and my disappointment at the rugged coast passed 
away. I had proceeded perhaps a mile, when the cry of 
" Town ho !" was heard a short distance off. This announced 
game afoot, and I hurried in the direction of the cry. As I 
was ambitious to vindicate myself as a hunter, having spun 
many a yarn about fox and coon hunts in the woods and 
over the hills of Pennsylvania, I kept a bright lookout under 
every cover, ignorant of the character of the game, much as 
a rabbit-hunter might, and often stumbled over the stones 
in my eagerness, the cry of " Town ho !" coming again and 
again. Presently, to my surprise, I saw our happy darkey, 
'Zekiel — the same whose ferocity alarmed the Peruvian 
guard — sitting on the rear of an enormous terrapin about 
the size of a wheelbarrow, and much the shape of my moth- 
er's forty-gallon apple-butter kettle. 

'Zekiel was shouting " Town ho !" for the necessary help 
to tote this great meat-chest to the shore. Good heavens ! 
thought I; is. this the animal I was "peeking" to find under 
the stones, much as Handy Andy did when ordered to look 
up the unlikely places for the lost cows ? Here was a " baste " 
that would weigh three hundred pounds at least. In the 
vicinity were numbers of others of more manageable size, 
and we selected two of perhaps fifty pounds' weight. We 
tied the fore and hind legs of each, so as to leave convenient 
loops through which to slip our arms, intending thus to car- 
ry our capture home, knapsack-fashion, on our backs. The 
great cavity in the bottom shell fitted nicely to our shoul- 
ders, and, aiding each other in adjusting the load, we made 
for the beach. All went pleasantly until my terrapin got it 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 105 

into his stupid brain that he was being " sold," and, tired of 
his position, he drew his legs within his shell with tremen- 
dous power. I found he had caught me most foully. How 
he pulled! I imagined my shoulder-blades must crush un- 
der the strain, and I cried out with the pain. A life-long stoop 
was straightened out, but I could not get the brute from my 
aching back. Sinbad, with his " Old Man of the Sea," had 
a comparatively good time; for no old man's knees could 
squeeze as that fifty-pound terrapin did. And I happen to 
know as much about the strength of an old man's knees as 
Sinbad did.* I was almost fainting as the men at the camp 
cut the cords and released me from my bondage. 

* My grandfather was ninety-three when I left home, but still was able 
to take his end of the cross-cut saw in dividing a three-foot log in the old 
mill, as well as to canter the friskiest gray three miles to First-day meeting. 
He was a lover of the gentle art from his youth upward, and retained the 
inclination, having a wonderful ability for tempting the speckled trout from 
the musical waters of our wooded hills. But early stiffness in the joints 
and the twinges of rheumatism forbade his wading our cold brooks. The 
wiry feather-weight old sportsman therefore converted his mischievous 
grandson into a pack-horse, to carry him dry-shod from side to side of the 
shallow streams. The old gentleman's sense of touch was delicate as in 
youth ; the hand struck surely on the faintest rise at fly, or a nibble at cad- 
dis. And when he hooked a fish, how tenderly, yet certainly, did the old 
angler lead the resisting beauty from the deep tangle of the alder-roots to 
bed of moss prepared for it in the creel ! But the suns of ninety-three sum- 
mers had somewhat hurt his eyes, and at times he failed to mark the posi- 
tion of the hook so cautiously dropped from a fern-covered bank. In boy- 
ish glee the by-standing urchin would shout, "Why, grandfather, thy hook 
is a foot from the water!" The touchy angler would drop his tip-a-wee, 
tempt a rise, and land the trout. But the boy had the laugh at the master, 
and he must pay for his whistle of course. And when we next crossed the 
rippling shallow, the old bony knees played hard on the wind-organ be- 
tween them. As good a horseman as the old man was, his grip was too 
much for the barefooted biped roaming over rolling rocks ; but with a teas- 
ing tweak of the ear, and a "Dodrabbit thee, thee laughs at my fishing, 
does thee ?" he put on his best squeeze. The next moment the irate angler 

5* 



106 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

The true way to carry a terrapin is to form a hand-bar- 
row with deal clubs, or, for the largest, of the steering oars. 
Such a contrivance, manned by two or ten men, will bring- 
down the capture with comparative ease. I have not a cer- 
tain idea of the weight these creatures attain, but think I 
am within the mark in placing them at four or five hundred 
pounds. A somewhat hasty dinner of fried terrapin scarce- 
ly interrupted the coming and going of the carriers, and an 
hour before sunset a boat loaded to the water's edge with 
our spoils was dispatched to the ship. We who remained 
ashore prepared beds of dried grass under the tent, while 
the cook made a savory mess of terrapin-meat, with the 
sweet, golden fat, the rich, melting liver, potatoes, and on- 
ions. As the savory odors swept athwart my nose, I almost 
lost heart and appetite in the roasting of an iguana nearly 
three feet long, and as thick around as a man's leg. As I 
turned and basted the horrible beast, it was with less and 
less stomach for the feast. 

Part of the crew had started on a hunt for a sea -lion 
(male seal), as we wanted the thick hide for moccasins, our 
leather shoes having been cut to pieces in this single day's 
tramping over the scoria. Others found amusement in kill- 
ing the great conger-eels in the shallow pools left by the 
receding tide. These spotted, snake like fish are bold and 
vicious, not hesitating to dart at you, and fasten to the na- 
ked leg or foot. It requires nerve to stand the charge of 
the ugly creatures without flinching. 

Luxurious dogs that we were, to our roast iguana and 
terrapin stew we added the conger-eels, and craw-fish as 
large as our lobsters, and equally good. At the going down 
of the sun, a ravenous crew, seated on the convenient backs 

and young nuisance together were gathering their sprawling limbs from be- 
neath the laughing waters, which carried the joke to the tickled trout in the 
pool below. Ah! lackaday ! Such days and such grandfathers are not 
now with us ! 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 107 

of terrapin, gathered about a feast to be treated by fork 
and spoon, not by stupid pen. Man's capacity for good liv- 
ing is fortunately limited; but for this night's work each 
man's appetite seemed endless as my neighbor, Tetty Wor- 
rah's, parsnip, which penetrated so deep into the earth that 
a strong smell of tea came up through the hole it bored. 

After the feast came the soothing pipe; but the more 
thoughtful remarked the continued absence of the two seal- 
hunters; and as the sudden darkness of the tropics settled 
upon us, strange tales of adventure in these islands were 
told by the older men — stories of lost seamen, never found, 
who probably had fallen into the volcanic pits and traps. Jim 
Sellers, learned in the lore of deep water, averred that these 
were enchanted lands, differing in all respects from other 
islands. Of the hundreds of islands which shoot out of the 
deep blue water, he said there is not one that was not born 
in volcanic fires. All that we tread upon has been a bottom 
of the sea, and there has been a fight through the ages of 
fire against water. The wild imagination of a Western 
tourist suggested the picture of Niagara pouring into Ve- 
suvius — a grand tournament of the elements, surely, yet 
baby's play compared to the scenes in which these islands 
had their birth. Jim held further that Fiddler's Green 
could not be enjoyed by good sailors were "hazing cap- 
tains" allowed to anchor their souls in its happy port with- 
out a thorough overhauling of life's log; and he showed . 
that the islands we were in must be the probationary cruis- 
ing-ground of the misdoers. In these rainless deserts, in the 
forms of terrapin, they do penance for their rancorous sea- 
life, and their only liberation and clean bill of health comes 
through the sea-pie, and the satisfied hunger of the sailor 
whom they once hazed and bedeviled. Old Jim avers that 
he well knows the wicked, winking eyes of an old terrapin 
lying staring by the hour into the glimmering embers of the 



108 NIMMOD OF THE SEA; OR, 

cook's fire. But he had lost the run of old Captain Springer 
for years, and did not know he was dead till he now met 
him here at Porter Islands. He pounced upon the terrapin 
at once, intending, as he said, to have the only good dinner 
that he ever got out of the " stingy cuss." Old Jim may be 
right; on a fair vote, a majority of mankind would agree 
with him in his doctrine of transmigration, and our boat's 
crew would count with the winning side. It will be rather 
a pleasant relish to fat pork and plain boiled rice to have 
fivescore of captains looking on for the next six months 
through hungry terrapin eyes. Jim bestowed a blessing 
and a kick on Springer's senseless shell, knocked out the 
ashes of his pipe on his obdurate brow, and rolled over in 
the inviting grass to dream of home or Fiddler's Green. 
We followed suit, first taking the shoes from our blistered 
feet, after our habit of sleeping barefooted on board ship, 
and turning into the luxury of a clean bed without cock- 
roaches. Who among men has kept a journal of his dreams? 
Surely in my sea-life the hours in dream-land were the most 
enjoyable, and quite as good in a business way as fussy 
waking -time. Yawning, and terribly asleep, I answered, 
"Ay, ay," to the midnight summons of "Watch on deck." 
This setting a nightwatch on a fast anchored isle, arose from 
the fixed habit of sea-life ; for in the sailor's existence he 
must count sure On two things — the watch on deck and death 
at the end of it. 

The glint of the moonlight from the rippling water trou- 
bled my dry, heavy eyes, and with the constitutional growl 
of the forecastle I blessed the eyes of my disturber, and 
took a seat on the back of a terrapin, and found it cooler 
than the surrounding lava. Now came waking dreams in 
the novelty and silence of a land -watch. The brawling 
brook and old saw-mill, the Jcreetching cider-mill, and ranges 
of barrels with convenient straws. And then the dear old — 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 109 

Ah me ! Silly thoughts these for a rough being keeping 
lone watch on an ash -heap of nature's laboratory. Next 
my mind turned to mischief. The spirit of the solitude 
invited me, and then came the desire and the resolve to see 
more of the interior than was usually penetrated in the ter- 
rapin hunt; and I returned to bed at the relief of my 
watch, determined to play lost next day. 

In due course came the dawn, and with it an ample break- 
fast on the warmed-over remnants of supper. Eight hours' 
sound sleep had exhausted all we ate last night, and had 
cleaned out our lockers for the stowage of more unknown 
quantities. Old Lisha, the boat-steerer, advised a " proper 
chinking between the solid menavellines with the mushy 
lobscouse, to prevent shift of cargo in the rolling country we 
were to hunt over." He claimed there was much judgment 
necessary to stow " grub," so as to carry it well in a rough 
sea, " as Jack discovered in," he added, " his voyage from 
Groton Hill to Stonington on a kicking horse. The heels and 
taffrail of the infernal craft were in the air overhead all the 
time, and the brute pitched bow under at every jump. It 
was awful goin', and the more Jack dug the craft amidships 
Avith his heels the more it wouldn't sail on an even keel. 
So Jack hauled up at a road-side inn, and ordered two bush- 
els of oats, saying, ' Look here, hostler ; mind you stow that 
grub well aft, as he sails too much by the head to steer 
well.' " 

Our seal-hunters had retui-ned in the night with the hide 
of a sea-lion. This we cut into moccasins, and laced on our 
feet to a neat fit, the fine hair inward, forming a perfect 
shield against the cutting edges of the rocks. 

Charley Lings wished with me to push for the interior 
and find the enchanted castle that might be there, and our 
desires were forwarded, when word came that we should re- 
main on shore another night. We secured a boat, hatchet, 



110 N1MROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

and fire materials, and then set out from camp, striking 
from the path directly for a notch we observed in the range 
before us. We had no means of carrying a supply of water, 
and we trusted to our luck. . After walking several miles, 
we reached a district where, in all likelihood, human foot 
had never trod. The face of the country was gloomy in the 
extreme, broken into abrupt walls of flinty lava, the valleys 
being floored with scoria. There was no vegetation or evi- 
dences of life other than the little lizards. Following a 
narrow defile which the rolling pumice made tiresome walk- 
ing, we next met many walls, or dikes, of vesicular lava 
thrown across the gorge. We had to climb these under the 
intense heat of the sun, and attained a summit overlooking 
a plain several miles in extent. Our altitude was consider- 
able, and we could discern a number of the surrounding 
islands, and the ship lying quietly in her nook. Inland 
stretched a plain of greater beauty than we had expected to 
find, or had hitherto met. The grass was green, and the 
trees and bushes comparatively luxuriant. 

Finding an easy descent, we hastened onward to seek the 
refreshing shade of the trees, and with a faint hope that we 
might obtain water. Great numbers of terrapin were about, 
some of them of immense size — very much larger than any 
seen on the shore plains. Here we first heard the deep bel- 
lowing of the male terrapin — not unlike that of an angry 
bull. But wherefore this cry was a mystery to us, as the 
creatures seemed deaf to any sounds which we could make 
to alarm them. Possibly the male felt that it was good to 
bellow, though none might enjoy the music, or he may have 
bellowed, as some flowers grow and some men work, unseen, 
for the love of God ; and, I might add, as an old sculptor 
chipped marble in dark places. This reminds me of a story, 
which I told to my companion as we trotted on. In a ca- 
thedral of Italy, so old that the finger of Time was tracing 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 11, 

growing lines on its marbles, a tourist's ear caught the tiny 
clink of a sculptor's hammer behind a frieze in the lofty in- 
terior. Searching for the sound, he mounted upward until 
he stood before the wondrously graceful stone wrought by 
genius seemingly superhuman. In the increasing gloom of 
the back galleries, his ear alone became his guide as the 
louder clink of the hammer invited him on. At length, by 
the feeble glimmer of a lamp suspended from the sculptured 
stone, he discovered an old, bearded man, patiently drawing 
and perfecting curves of beauty in yielding marble. The 
worker was partly hidden behind the frieze, where human eye 
might never see or be instructed by his labor. The tourist 
drew near the solitary artist, all the reverence of his nature 
stirred by the scene. Uncovering his head to the courteous 
salutation of the old man, he inquired, "Wherefore?" "For 
the love of God," responded the old worshiper. So, it may 
be, the poor misshapen terrapin sang his untuueful, unheard 
song from the mysterious love which dwells in his cold 
heart; the love of God may be even there. Who knows? 
Who dare say nay ? 



r .i2 JVUIIiOD OF THE SEA; OS, 



CHAPTER IX. 

Springs of Water from the living Rocks. — A new Dish, and simple Cook- 
ery. — A Supper, and permission to Kings to sup. — We return to Camp. 
— Up Anchor for Cocos Island. — At Anchor again. — Anticipations of 
Tropical Luxuriance exceeded. — Description of the Growths. — Quarrels 
settled. — Bottom of the Bay, and beauty thereof. — Wild-boar Hunt. — 
Description of our Game. — Absence of Food elements in Cocos Island 
contrasted with the Abundance at the Galapagos. — Remarkable qualities 
of the Terrapin. — Abundance and Variety of Fishes. — Weigh Anchor for 
Selango to wood Ship. — A Plan to desert proposed and declined. — The 
Wreck of Forests found at Sea. 

With the established inconsistency of moralists, we took 
the head off the largest terrapin we could find — one great 
enough to furnish a feast for a hundred men — as we stood 
in sore need of refreshment. We were exceedingly thirsty, 
moreover, and had tried to satisfy our craving Avith the 
warm, insipid juice obtained from the trunks of the giant 
cactuses, but in our capture, in our terrapin, we found the 
living spring of this wilderness. An ample supply of pure, 
limpid water was discovered in the pearly sack placed at 
the base of the animal's neck. There were some three gal- 
lons of water here, and, wonders of wonders ! it was cool. 
The temperature of the animal is but 62°, but that of the 
country may reach 110° in the sun. Thus we carried our 
water in the bottle of classic ages, only that this was Na- 
ture's own water-bottle. Such is one of God's providences 
for man in dry places. 

Heartily refreshed by the drink, we built a fire under the 
branches of a tree of fragrant foliage out of wood whose 
smoke Avas incense, and we toasted great slices of the terra- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 115 

pin liver, which is sweeter than the almond. This dainty} 
served on our excellent ship-bread, made a feast fit for a 
prince. Our cookery was entirely novel; and as it may 
happen that the reader one day will be enabled to obtain 
two pieces of lava and a pound slice from the tenderloin of 
a four-hundred-pound terrapin, I will let him into the se- 
cret. Place two such pieces of lava, with spoon-like cavi- 
ties to catch the gravy, before the blazing fire, until they be- 
come frying hot. Then place the meat upon the stone with 
the largest cavity ; lay a piece of sweet fat on top, sprink- 
ling a little salt over it, and cover all with the second lump 
of lava. In a short time you will have a dish that none but 
good whalemen or honest landsmen deserve to eat. Hav- 
ing thus dined, and lighted our pipes, we threw ourselves at 
length on the bosom of our kingdom, and were willing that 
crowned kings of earth should draw up to dull mahogany, 
and eat the best of the coarse fare their possessions afford- 
ed ; better, we thought condescendingly, that they should 
eat salmon and venison than starve. Another tenderloin 
from between hot stones supplied us with a night-cap ; and 
after another solacing pipe, and dreamy talk of homes in 
England and America, we fell into a peaceful slumber, un- 
der the enchantment of a moonlight glimmer on the broad 
floor of an extinct volcano. 

The morning broke on us, refreshed and transported with 
the wild romance of our surroundings. We discussed the 
possibilities of existence in the heart of this island, and al- 
most persuaded ourselves that such a chance of life would 
be preferable to much that we had seen in the back alleys 
and slums of crowded cities. We were at a loss to account 
for the verdure, and comparative fertility of this elevated 
plateau, but concluded that its elevation was sufficient to 
cause heavy dews — perhaps to condense the clouds to rain — 
while the coast beneath was parched by nine months of un- 



NIMROD OF THE SEA; OB, 



interrupted drought. Making another inroad on our store 
of flesh, and slinging our water-bottle over the shoulder, 
we retraced our steps to the camp, which we reached about 
noon. We were made more of as lost and found than we 
really deserved. But we took the petting kindly, and prom- 
ised to be careful thereafter. With one hundred and fif- 
teen terrapin of all sizes secured, we then returned to the 
ship, whose decks were crowded by our sleeping captives, 
and the cook's galley steamed with a new and savory odor. 
But no artful mess of the "doctor" seemed to equal our 
home-made dish on the mountain top. 

On the following day all hands had liberty on shore — fish- 
ing, hunting seals, to be used in future caps, gathering beau- 
ful small shells for a sweetheart's work-basket, and swim- 
ming, forming the staple amusements of the day. With im- 
provised spears, we pierced and captured numbers of large 
skates, or " stingarus," and on a small island to weather of 
the anchorage we found numbers of large, clumsy land- 
crabs. The sailors claim that these creatures have power 
in their claws to strip the husk from the cocoa-nut; but 
why they should amuse themselves thus is more than I can 
understand, as they surely can not crack the shell. 

On the next morning, to the song, 

' ' The windlass ply, the cable haul ; 
With a stamp and a go and a Yo-heave oh ! 

Our sails to the winds let fall. 
Joys of the shore we must forego, 
To brave the storms, and to seek the foe, 

And win the spoils of victory, " 

we brought the anchor to the bows, and stood to the north 
for Cocos Island, to take in water. The second day out we 
lay top-sails aback, with two good whales alongside ; and ■ 
after cutting-in, we braced forward and stood on such course 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 115 

as we could lay in these calm latitudes. We sighted the 
cloud-capped heights of Cocos, but were three days in work- 
ing up to an anchorage in the beautiful bay. 

This solitary island is touched by the southern skirt of the 
south-east trade-winds. Its mountains serve to condense the 
vapors borne by the hot winds, which here meet the upward 
currents of the equatorial belt, and consequently the island 
is enveloped in clouds, its climate bearing the character of 
constant rain. The whalers run from great distances for 
water supplies from the pure stream which flows into the 
head of the bay. We towed our water-casks ashore in long 
snake-like rafts, and filled them directly on the beach, lead- 
ing the water by a spout from the ravine to the edge of the 
sea. In this manner four hundred barrels of water were ob- 
tained in a very short time. After this duty was done, we 
had liberty on shore. On the beach at the head of the bay 
are many detached rocks, of such softness that they may be 
easily cut with a carpenter's chisel, and on their surface are 
carved the names of many ships, and persons who have vis- 
ited the spot. We soon became in a degree inured to the 
rain ; and notwithstanding the thoroughly soaked condition 
of every thing, we plodded through the marvelous ferns and 
mosses, over hill and valley, to feast our sea-tired eyes with 
the beauty of a miraculous vegetation. Now, for the first 
time, my anticipation of tropical growths was exceeded, and 
I wandered from beauty to beauty with a pleasure alloyed 
only by the enveloping clouds and pouring rain. 

A deep, fertile soil, held in place by the fibrous roots and 
mosses, covers the steep hill-sides, and everywhere we see an 
endless variety of strange plants, urged into the wildest lux- 
uriance of growth by the extremes of heat and moisture. It 
seemed a vast conservatory, in which every growth was per- 
fected and uninterrupted, decay being instantly covered by 
new accumulations of beautiful life. My poor language is 



Ill) 



NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 



too feeble to convey the wonders of nature's productiveness 
to minds schooled under northern skies. Here are lofty 
cliffs extending far as the eye can penetrate the misty at- 
mosphere, their sides deeply festooned with vines and dense 
verdure of all kinds from base to summit. Long arcades 
and cavernous arbors are formed so deep that the vivid tints 




TROPICAL GROWTHS. 



of foliage and flowers are lost in shadows, which verge on 
the darkness of night. In these green recesses I observed 
one of those contrasts in which nature seems to delight. 
Flocks of birds of a pure white plumage passed to and 
fro in the dim light, as though they were blossoms of the 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 117 

vines become animate, and in flight and twittering song 
sought companionship. Long stalactites of vivid green, 
around which flowers grew, hung from the roofs, the points 
emitting crystal streams of water, which were lost on carpets 
of moss and ferns. The lofty hills were clothed with broad- 
foliaged forest-trees so dense that the misty light of day was 
almost excluded, their tops covered with a surf of palms. 
Palmettoes, dracsenas, ferns, lycopodiacese, and orchids were 
in charming harmonies and contrasts. Marvelous forms and 
colors crowded every spot, indeed bewildering the mind of 
the ignorant sailor, who only knew enough to feast on the 
beauty through which he tore his way. Leaping cascades of 
the purest water sprung from the cliffs, and fell hundreds of 
feet below, penciling their course in silver light, and wreath- 
ing the near growths in snowy foam. 

But even in this fairy-land rude business intruded itself. 
We had to settle two quarrels which had occurred since we 
left the Galapagos, and which, according to the rules of the 
captain, were postponed until we reached shore. A ring 
being formed and fair play assured, a few minutes of down- 
right earnest effort buried all ugly grudges and heart-burn- 
ings in the beautiful sand, which the combatants had kissed 
in turn. Then we turned to more general enjoyments; all 
hands running races, wrestling, and skylarking on the shelv- 
ing beach. Some waded off in the shallow water to gather 
the sea-stars, sea-eggs, shells, corals, and the marine plants 
which make the bottom of the bay almost a counterpart, in 
brilliancy of coloring, of the garden-land. Of this wondrous 
scene the gift of the artist and poet may relieve the sailor, 
in the following description : 

"Come down, come down from the tall ship's side; 
What a marvelous sight is here ! 
Look ! purple rocks and crimsoned trees 
Down in the deep so clear. 



118 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

"See where those shoals of dolphins go, 
A glad and glorious band ; 
Sporting amid the day-bright woods 
Of a coral fairy-land. 

"See, on the violet sands beneath, 
How the gorgeous shells do glide ! 
O Sea ! Old Sea ! who yet knows half 
Of thy wonders and thy pride ? 

"Look how the sea-plants trembling float, 
All, like a mermaid's locks, 
Waving in threads of ruby red, 
Over these nether rocks. 

"Heaving and sinking, soft and fair, 
Here hyacinthine, there green, 
With many a stem of golden growth 
And silver-starred flowers between." 

There is a tradition that the good Captain Cook planted 
a couple of hogs in this island to provide future visitors 
with stuff for sea-pies, and a portion of the crew organized 
a boar-hunt. Armed with a shortened whaling-lance, boat- 
hooks, and clubs, we clambered the steep hill baek of the 
watering-place, and plashed noisily through the dripping 
bushes. We soon started a gay and festive boar, of grey- 
hound proportions and activity. "With a grunt, a tail on 
end, and bristles and heels in the air, he dashed forward 
down the hill; we following, with yells, in his rear. Our 
outcries brought the rest of the crew up the narrow valley, 
when they brought the brute to bay. A lucky prod with 
the lance touched his life, and he soon went into his flurry, 
and turned on his beam-ends ; but not before he had made 
several vicious charges on his surrounding foes, although, 
fortunately, none of the reckless boys were lacerated by his 
formidable tusks. Our visions of sea-pie vanished at once 




CORALS AND MADREPORES. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 121 

as we regarded the victim. We had run down the mere 
frame-work of a veritable hog, with a hide loosely folded as 
a hound's, and as savage-visaged as a wolf. Slinging him 
over a pole, we toted him to the beach, and stripped off his 
hide without finding a trace of fat. Round, hard knots of 
muscular flesh formed what should have been ham, shoulder, 
and neck. But he was fully developed in teeth and bristles, 
and these formed the greater part of him. The entire flesh 
might have been eaten by our party at a meal. But we 
had our boar-hunt, and came home not empty-handed. 

The significant point of our adventure was that, in the 
profusion of vegetable growth, the elements of nutrition 
were so scant that even a pig could not glean the mate- 
rial for his prerogative of fatness ; and we read, in the 
brute's attenuated proportions, that the unfortunate wretch 
who should desert his ship might starve in this garden. In 
striking contrast with the absence of food in this most lux- 
urious tropical growth is the profusion of sustenance afford- 
ed in the seeming desolation of the volcanic Galapagos. As 
represented in a former chapter, they are entirely igneous 
in their formation, vitreous scoria, pumice, and cindery ash- 
es covering hills and plains; and these. unpromising materi- 
als are so loosely arranged that the rains sink at once, and 
are entirely lost, but one known spring of water existing in 
the entire group. The cactuses, and a few thorny, gnarled, 
woody-leaved shrubs are the principal growths, and the 
small fruit of the prickly pear is the only vegetable edible 
by man. Yet on this most unpromising field nature has 
abundantly provided for the possible presence of the latter. 
In these low solitudes are found great numbers of small 
lizards, and the monster of the tribe, the great iguana. 
These great lizards were dainty feasts for the buccaneers of 
old, as they lay here in wait for the treasure-laden galleons 
of Spain, in passage from Lima to Panama, and when they 



XIMRQD OF THE SEA; OR, 



returned from their hellish raids, laden with the plunder of 
desecrated churches and ravished homes. Here the English 
pirates found a congenial home. But the most remarkable 
provision for the peculiar needs of the sea-faring visitor is 
our old friend, the terrapin. At the end of several months' 
fast on the decks or in the hold of a ship, these creatures 
are found good for the table, with only a diminished store 
of fat and flesh. 

As we traversed these seemingly recent formations, I was 
continually impressed with the thought that we were read- 
ing a first chapter in the book of Creation, wherein a soil 
was yet to be formed, and an order of life above the rep- 
tile to be introduced. And I was led to wonder at the 
strange order of nature that, in the arid desolation of the 
Galapagos, man may live in luxury, while the hog may 
almost starve among the fine vegetation of Cocos Island. 
This contrast extends even to the waters of the two local- 
ities. In the harbor of Cocos Island, as the seaman leans 
over the gunwale of his boat and gazes down into the intri- 
cate recesses of branching corals and waving plants, he sees 
vast numbers of highly-colored and brilliant parrot-fishes 
grazing upon the coral polyps which grow on the stony soil. 
In vain may he angle for a meal, for their ivory-toothed 
mouths are so small that they can not take in a large hook, 
and their jaws are so powerful that they will snap a small 
one. Our method of capturing the few we took was to an- 
neal a small steel hook and render it tough, so that it might 
bend but not break short under the action of these strange- 
ly-formed fish. 

At the Galapagos, the shallow basins of the shore swarm 
with 2;reat craw-fish, to be taken by the hand ; and conger- 
eels, to be killed with a club. Half buried in the shallows are 
ray-fish, to be harpooned with a stick cut in a neighboring 
copse ; black water-iguanas bask on the stones ; enormous 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 



123 



turtles slumber on the beaches, and their vast stores of eggs 
may be dug from the warm sands. Seals and sea-lions 
tamely lie on the rocky islets ; the sombre pelican sits brood- 
ing on the ledges, so absorbed that the mischievous seaman 
may place a cautious hand under its contented tail, and tip 
it heels over head into the water below. Little land-birds 
alight upon your person absolutely unconscious of fear, and 
in the lagoons are beautiful fan-like mussels eighteen inches 
in length, and innumerable conch-shells. The deeper waters 



: . 




SOME FISII. 



abound in infinite numbers of fish, diversified in colors, forms, 
and qualities. Some of the larger of these are so easily 
taken, that you are well equipped for sport with a boat-hook 
and a square inch of red flannel. In four fathoms swarm 
schools of the excellent groupers, twenty or more pounds in 
weight. But beckon to them with the baited hook, and a 
half-score of scarlet beauties will answer the polite invitation 



124 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OB, 

by rising from the depths. Select your partner, drop your 
bait into the waiting mouth. He will close on it as a patri- 
ot will on a nomination, and he will hang on as a lover of 
his country and his kind will to place and power. 

Were it possible to combine the life of these two groups 
of islands, what a garden of delights would we possess ! But 
I suppose the elements of perfect bliss are generally separa- 
ted by a space equal to the ten degrees which divide the Gal- 
apagos and Cocos. Before leaving the island, I employed a 
couple of hours in carving the name of the Chelsea among 
the hundreds already recorded on the rocks, and I also en- 
graved the name of a young Pennsylvanian in whom I felt 
unsual interest. 

On board ship we were now rich in fresh water, terrapin, 
potatoes, onions, and fruits ; but our supply of fuel was short, 
and it was necessary to start for Selango, on the coast of 
Colombia, about eight hundred miles distant, to secure the 
needed supply. The wood of Cocos was succulent, and un- 
fitted for fuel, except a rare kind. Glad to get into port, 
the sailor soon tires of uninhabited lands, and, " with a stamp 
and a go, a yo heave-oh," he runs the anchor to the bows, and 
cheerily sheets home his top-sails for a fresh cruise. Having 
cleared the land, the mast>heacls were manned, and we stood 
south-south-east, shortening sail by night, as we were on good 
whaling-ground. 

On the passage one of the boat-steerers approached me 
with a desire to enlist me in a scheme to desert with five 
others when the ship reached Selango, their intention being 
to take one of the boats, run down the coast to Panama, 
thence across the Isthmus, and find passage in some trader 
to an American port. I declined, but promised to preserve 
his secret, telling him that having shipped for better, for 
worse, in the old Chelsea, I meant to stick by her ; and if 
things became unbearable, to lend a hand to right them 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 125 

rather than, by running away, let them go still worse. My 
mind was made up to return to America in the ship I left. 
No more was heard of the plan, and I hoped that it was 
dropped, for it involved some of the good men of the ship, 
and one of our best boat-steerers. On the passage south we 
.took one small whale. A boat was capsized, but no further 
damage done. 

As we approached the coast, a little north of Selango, we 
passed through a tract of many miles, in which the water 
was covered with branches of trees, some of considerable 
size, splintered and much broken, with great quantities of 
leaves, dead birds, and some dead monkeys. In the midst 
of the wreck were many small striped snakes. This was 
evidently the work of a whirlwind in the forests of the 
neighboring coast, and we considered ourselves fortunate 
in escaping its force. With a good breeze from the west- 
ward, we soon afterward made land on the larboard bow, 
and, without altering our course, steered directly into the 
noble bay of Selango. 



126 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OS, 



CHAPTER X. 

Anchor in Selango.Bay. — An Afternoon's Liberty. — The People and their 
Houses. — Beautiful building Materials and comfortable Homes. — Con- 
trivance to keep noxious Vermin from the Houses. — Furniture. — Span- 
iard circumventing Monkey. — Monkey circumventing Spaniard. — Fruits, 
and the Cherimoya in particular. — Visit to Banana-orchard. — Crabs 
which are red, and that do run backward. — Wooded on the Rubber- 
tree, and sought Store of Limes. — See our first Monkeys. — Abundance 
of Monkeys revealed; pelt them with Oranges. — Cheapness of Fruits. — 
Ship richly supplied with Fruits. — Correcting false Impressions as to 
Fare. — The Runaways. — Elisha Chipman. — "Wicked Bill." 

At about 3 p.m. we dropped anchor a short half-mile from 
the beach of white sand, which appeared to extend around 
the entire bay, broken in places by the encroachment of 
mangrove-bushes. Again we have before us a scene of 
tropical luxuriance and beauty. A few dusky spots beneath 
the shade of the grand trees mark the town, a place of no 
importance at present, save as a resort for an occasional 
whale-ship. As soon as all was made snug on board, the 
captain good-naturedly allowed us to go on shore, with in- 
junctions to be moderate in eating the tempting but danger- 
ous fruits of the country. 

The two boats assigned to us were crowded, and we pull- 
ed off on our short holiday, mischievously rocking the boats 
and making the sombre old wood around ring with the jolly 
chorus of a rowing- song, so thoroughly determined were 
we to give a full notice to human and monkey natives that 
we were coming. The result of our boisterous play was a 
capsized boat and a moistened crew; those who were able 
swimming to the shore, and the remainder clinging to wreck 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 127 

or oars until picked up by the other boat. The principal 
part of the inhabitants, omitting the monkeys, were gathered 
on the beach to welcome us. The Spanish-Indian dialect 
was incomprehensible to most of us; yet we read in the 
people's faces that they wei'e right glad to see us, and in 
their signs that fruit was plentiful, good, and cheap. They 
at once invited us to their houses to i*est, and a few steps 
up the beach brought us to the dwellings, which we entered 
by climbing up short ladders and through a trap-door in 
the floor. 

The houses are of the simplest construction, but are adapt- 
ed to the climate and the habits of the people. They are 
detached, and built on a number of straight posts firmly 
planted in the earth, the cross-beams, sills, roof-plates, and 
rafters being made of bamboo, lashed neatly and with sail- 
or-like precision by neatly-plaited sennit, or braided cords. 
The thatched roofs are admirably made out of a variety of 
the cabbage-palm. This plume-like foliage is composed of 
a stout midrib eight or ten feet long, with long, narrow 
leaflets, closely arranged in opposite pairs, and so sharply 
turned up at their edges that they form gutters, which dis- 
charge all the water falling on them from the pointed ends. 
The roof formed this way is open to the circulation of air, 
but impervious to the rain and the heat of a tropical sun. 
Siding and flooring boards are obtained by simply running 
a knife along one side of a bamboo and spreading it out flat ; 
this process leaves a net-work of cracks, which afford ven- 
tilation and apertures through which all the dirt passes out. 
The floor so made is elevated about nine feet from the 
earth, the posts supporting the house being capped Avith 
rawhide, smeared on the under side with adhesive gums. 
Thus the houses are secure against the inroads of snakes, 
scorpions, centipedes, ants, spiders, and other creeping and 
crawling drawbacks to perfect enjoyment in the tropics. 



128 NIMMOD OF THE SEA; OR, 

The cracks in the sides furnish light as well as air; the 
overhanging thatch shuts off the sun ; and the houses, upon 
the whole, look clean, cool, convenient, and not to be im 
proved upon. There are usually two rooms — one for stor- 
age, and one for residence. A pile of mats forms the bed. 
The people knit very ingeniously. Examine a fine Panama 
hat, and you may realize their skill in such work. The cord 
hammock forms their luxurious lounge. Gourds are put to 
the manifold uses of dish, vase, jug, and bottle, some of them 
being of immense size. The rooms are adorned with spears, 
broad-bladed machetes, or knives, and very excellent fishing- 
tackle, nets, etc. 

In front of each house is a stage of poles, on which are 
suspended stores of bananas and plantains. To save these 
fruits from the depredations of the monkeys, they are cut 
while green and suspended in the sun, that they may mature 
in safety. The natives assured us that, should the banana 
be allowed to remain on the tree a single day beyond the 
time when it will properly ripen separated from the tree, 
the mischievous neighbors will organize a raid, and strip the 
orchard in a single night. The monkeys work strictly on 
the co-operative principle. The gray-headed elders stand 
sentry on trees near the dwellings, and keep sharp eye on 
the movements of their tailless cousins, while the young and 
active form a line from the fruit-trees to their hidden pantry 
or store-house. Good judges of fruit ascend the trees, and 
a stream of golden spoil flows steadily onward fast as the 
harvesters tear or bite it from the stem. If they are sur 
prised or alarmed by the signal of the watchman, every fel- 
low scampers to the woods with such a load as he may hap- 
pen to have in hand, and he will only relinquish his grasp 
to escape capture. Some assert that the mother will shake 
her baby from her back rather than relinquish the fruit, but 
I doubt this, in a place where bananas are so plentiful. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 129 

After partaking freely of the Guayaquil orange and the 
delicious fig -bananas, we found the . cherimoya the most 
delicate, luscious, and ambrosial of all fruits. Under the 
temptations of the black-eyed, smiling Eves, we nibbled, and 
tasted, and ate, in utter forgetfulness of our captain's well- 
meant warning. But after eating a hatful of cherimoyas, 
we had to yield to even that most exquisite fruit. Satiated 
and used up, we then recalled the wise counsel of the cap- 
tain, and determined to be prudent, abstinence being so easy 
a virtue when we had all we desired. To settle the good 
things eaten, however, and recover room for yet untasted 
sillwaula plums, papie, melons, etc., we walked a short dis- 
tance into the woods to see the banana- orchards. I was 
surprised at the limited area in cultivation, which' not only 
furnished twenty families with the staple of life, but left an 
abundance for ships visiting the bay. 

Humboldt has told us that this plant surpasses all others 
in the production of food for man. It saemed credible to 
us as we stood beneath the broad foliage, and saw suspended 
from the twenty or thirty stems the great bunches in every 
stage of development short of ripeness. The orchards were 
fenced by bamboo rails lashed to posts or living trees, and 
were bordered with orange, and the cassava, or tapioca 
plant. The orange, guava, limes, pepper, and calabash trees 
were growing wild. 

I believe it is an axiom in natural history that there are 
three misstatements in the vulgar description of the crab: 
"A fish, of a red color, that runs backward." When the 
naturalist visits Selango, he will nevertheless see the beach 
covered with crabs which are red, and which do run back- 
ward of necessity, as they would expose their defenseless 
tails if they retreated otherwise; whether fish or not, is a 
question. The Indians showed us numbers of pearls, some 
of goodly size, and, to our inexperienced eyes, of great purity 

6* 



130 NIMEOB OF THE tiEA; OB, 

and beauty. These are found in the oysters which abound 
in this bay. In the days of Spanish rule many pearls were 
obtained. Great heaps of large and exquisite mother-of- 
pearl shells were to be seen, and we selected a fair number 
of the choicest, intending to polish some into cream-skim- 
mers for the dairies of home friends, and convert others into 
artificial flying-fishes, to capture the dolphin and albicore. 

Having recovered our appetites, the women easily tempted 
us to renewed efforts on the fruits. Life is short, and the 
opportunity of eating cherimoyas confined to Peru. We im- 
proved the opportunity and ate a second hatful, before re- 
turning to our floating home by the soft light of a tropical 
twilight. 

Three days of hard labor were passed in chopping, and 
conveying our wood on the backs of asses to the shore, and 
thence by boats to the ship. The favorite wood was the 
magnificent India-rubber tree, on account of its softness, 
ease of splitting, lightness, and richness. We also took 
pains to secure some of the beautiful ornamental wood, for 
canes and general whittling. The last day we intended to 
remain in port, two boats were sent to the north side of the 
bay to collect limes from the woods, and enough fruit was 
obtained to furnish us two barrels of pure-strained acid for 
use as an antiscorbutic in the long cruises before us. Up to 
this time we had not seen monkeys in the woods, although 
the natives assured us that they abounded ; but as I sat un- 
der a branch, gazing idly into the dim cathedral light of the 
dense forest, and interested in the cackle, and scream, and 
bright colors of the parrots and macaws, my eye slowly set- 
tled on a knob in the crotch of a neighboring tree. By-and- 
by I could have sworn the knob was winking at me, and 
a moment later a broad grin transformed it into the head 
of a monkey, who was watching me from his lofty hiding- 
place. Holding a key to the situation, I looked into anoth- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 131 

er and another fork, and in each was nestled a winking, 
grinning face. No stones were to be found ; and arming 
myself with golden balls from a near orange-tree, I opened 
tire on the nearest heads. The mischievous imps, finding 
that they were discovered, came forth from their hiding- 
places, and every tree revealed one or more distant relations. 
Many had young ones on their backs, their necks being en- 
circled by the baby arms, and the miniature winked, nodded, 
and chattered in concert with the mother. From this time 
out they took no pains to hide themselves, "and came forth 
from all parts of the forest. The scattered crew engaged in 
gathering limes also found the forest suddenly alive with 
monkeys, and our progress was marked by the scolding of 
these audacious wood-sprites. 

The shore-folk brought off a great store of bananas, or- 
anges, and cassava roots, which were paid for in heavy un- 
bleached muslins, two fathoms of cloth being the px'ice for 
the largest bunch of bananas. ' When ready for sea, our 
ship was a toothsome sight. The bunches of bananas were 
suspended from the stays in every part of the ship, while 
the spars astern were fairly golden with the fine pumpkins 
of Peru. We were now in prime condition for a long 
cruise. A good stock of terrapin remained ; water was fresh 
and abundant ; wood filled every crevice in hold and 'tween- 
decks ; and between the carlines, in nets, were oranges, on- 
ions, sweet-potatoes, cassavas, and limes. Every man had 
two or three quart-bottles filled with the little Chili or bird- 
peppers, gathered from the woods ; and these, with vinegar, 
made pepper-sauce to season our salt pork. I enter into the 
details of good living on board to correct a common impres- 
sion that a whaleman's fare is always poor : 

' ' Salt beef, salt beef, is our relief — 
Salt beef, and a biscuit hard," 

as an old song wrongly has it. 



132 NIMSOD OF THE HE A; OB, 

On the night of July 25, in my anchor-watch, Jim and 
Chipman, both boat-steerers, quietly inquired whether I had 
changed my mind about remaining in the ship. I told 
them that I thought the best chance to reach home was to 
stick by her, and for my life I could see no reason for run- 
ning away; that we had seen no ship in which there was 
better treatment, and that our chances of a good voyage 
were first-rate. I reminded them that the coast was exceed- 
ingly unhealthy for men exposed as they would be in an open 
boat, and that, being penniless, they would have no chance 
in Panama, where they were bound, save to ship on some 
miserable coaster, hide-drogher, or merchantman. I strove 
very earnestly to dissuade Chipman from the senseless un- 
dertaking. He was just the man to stand by the ship — 
a healthy, brave, noble-hearted fellow; a first-rate sailor, 
a good boat-steerer ; a man we could ill afford to spare, 
whether as fellow-laborer, or as companion on deck or on 
shore. It was in vain. The foolish fellow had laid his 
course, and it was not for a boy to argue away the fancied 
wrongs on board which repelled, and the home visions 
which attracted him from this safe ship. He grasped my 
hand, said good-bye, and went below. This was the last I 
ever saw or heard of Elisha Chipman, a model seaman in all 
things save the damning weakness of the sailor for strong 
drink. The runaways consisted of eight men : the two boat- 
steerers, the steward, the capenter's mate, and four from the 
forecastle. One of the latter we could well spare, and were 
joyfully rid of. He had graduated on the Erie Canal, and 
fairly earned the name of "Wicked Bill." Whether Major 
Williams had got him by a general jail-delivery I can not 
say, but this is certain : America's gain was our great harm 
when he came on board the Chelsea. Too lazy to resist 
sea-sickness, he was prostrated by it for four months, and 
only recovered for duty when we had reached the calm lati- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 133 

tudes of the Pacific. He was despised by every soul on 
board, and shut himself from our sympathy in his suffer- 
ings by his obscenity and profanity — a gambler and cheat 
by profession, a ruffian by nature, lazy as a terrapin, and, 
to complete the ugly picture, a "sodger" every inch of him. 
As soon as the boys had left me, I shaped into the forecas- 
tle and stowed away beyond their finding my quadrant, pa- 
per, pens, and ink, simple drawing materials, and a small 
mariner's compass, lest their necessities might tempt them 
to despoil me. 



134 NIMEOD OF THE SEA ; OJt, 



CHAPTER XI. 

The Boat lowered, and the Men leave the Ship. — Residuary Legatee, and 
Preparation of the Chests, with national Song. — Second Mate makes a 
Discovery, and discourseth thereon. — Muster-roll called, and armed Boat 
ordered away. — Give up Chase, and attack on Case-bottle. — Weigh An- 
chor for Payta. — Description of Balsa Rafts. — A Providence for maritime 
Men in the placing of Timber. — Shoal of swimming Crabs. — Black-fish 
Chase. — Arrive at Payta, and ship eight Men. — Introducing "Long 
Tom."— Jack and the Fairy in Broadway.— Jack's three Wishes. 

Later in the night, from ray berth, a watchful ear caught 
the sound of the bow-boat in its descent from the davits, 
the cautious footsteps on deck, a low-hummed conversation, 
the dropping of the men, one by one, from the fore-chains 
into the boat, and then all was still. The forecastle was in 
darkness, for the runaways had extinguished every light on 
board. On calling, I found a number of the men had been 
awakened by the descending boat, but they had not suspect- 
ed the cause. . A light was struck, when the men were in- 
formed that the bow-boat had been taken and four of our 
shipmates were gone. 

According to immemorial usage, the survivors proceeded 
to overhaul the chests of the departed, to secure any keep- 
sakes they might have left to the mourning family, and to 
make sure that their " love-letters " should not fall into the 
hands of the captain, to the confusion of high-born dames at 
home. As in solemn duty bound, every thing was removed 
from the chests save an old deck of cards from " Wicked 
Bill's." These were of no use to honest folk, for they had 
the private marks of a knave in the dog-eared corners. They 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 135 

were accordingly left for cabin use. To soothe feelings aft, 
the words "too late" were inscribed in chalk on the lids, 
and we closed proceedings to the air of " God save the 
King," and the words, 

' ' One piece of beef for four of us, 
Not enough for two of us, 
Thank Neptune there's no more of us, 
God save the king. " 

Those of good conscience, at peace with the world, then 
turned in and slept the sleep of the just. Some time before 
daylight the second mate's pleasant hail awoke us, " Fo'c'sle 
there ! whose watch is it ?" when, discovering the absence 
of the bow-boat, he thundered away with a handspike on 
the deck, and yelled, "All hands turn out, every mother's 
son of you ! tumble up naked, or I'll skin some of you !" 
The ebullition of his boiling blood led him to interlard his 
invitation to tumble up with divers maledictions on our 
eyes, our tarry top-lights, and our maternal progenitors, with 
some wholesale " cussing," sadly at variance with the pious 
intent of our good captain. 

Thus violently aroused from our slumbers, we turned out 
leisurely, and tumbled up, inquiring of the irate mate, 
"What's the row on deck?" We found the captain very 
angry, of course ; but a deeper feeling than anger was ap- 
parent when to the muster-roll two of the boat-steerers fail- 
ed to answer, one of them his favorite harpooner. But it 
was no time for idle regrets. " Stir your stumps and get 
down a boat," was the order, soon as the extent of our loss 
was ascertained ; but the order was not so easily obeyed, 
as the falls were lashed in several places, and plugs of soft 
wood forced into the davits so as to jackson them. After 
loosening these, it was found that some pins had been cut 
away. Thus nearly an hour was lost, while the impatient 
captain and mates fumed about the disabled boats. At last 



136 NIMBOD OF THE SEA; OR, 

all was ready ; six loaded muskets and sundry pistols were 
placed in the boat, with the most child-like confidence that 
we would shoot off the pesky things should w r e be brought 
to close quarters with our runaway shipmates. Maybe we 
would. Maybe we wouldn't. 

Broad daylight saw us pulling around the north cape of 
the bay; but a vain pursuit of twelve or more miles and 
nothing in sight, convinced the captain that boat and crew 
had too much the start of us. He headed the boat into a 
little cove, where he opened his heart and a bottle of St. 
Croix, offering now to give us a, pull. A long tug at the oar 
had so whetted our appetites that we added no water to 
our rum, and the fiery drink, with a snack of biscuit and 
pork, set us on our thwarts for the homeward pull. 

The next morning we weighed anchor to beat up 'the 
coast for Payta, to make up our crew. On this passage we 
hugged the land at no time save at night. As best evidence 
of the pacific character of the sea immediately under the 
lee of the Cordilleras, we met large numbers of the singu- 
lar craft termed balsas running with square sail before the 
steady south-east trade -winds. They are simply rafts of 
logs lashed together, with a raised platform for cargo, and a 
deep lee-board to give steerage. On this primitive arrange- 
ment the Peruvians make voyages of a thousand miles, and 
sometimes are met far off the shore. The balsa wood is 
perhaps the lightest, having a specific gravity about one-half 
that of cork, and is impenetrable to water when both ends 
are submerged. The tree attains considerable size, and it 
is well adapted to the purposes for which it is used. 

As I regarded this provision I could but perceive an- 
other evidence of a careful Providence for the necessities of 
the sailor. Here we find the lightest and most impermeable 
timber in the world, growing in the immediate vicinity of 
the only sea on which raft navigation is fairly safe. Were 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 137 

the balsa wood placed on the shores of the stormy, change- 
able Atlantic, men would be tempted to perilous enterprise 
and frequent destruction. In place of this, the oak, the 
locust, and the pine are provided for the seas of Europe and 
America; the iron-like teak to endure the buffeting of the 
cyclones and typhoons of the Indian Ocean ; the worm-proof 
mahogany for the heated seas of the West Indies, where 
marine worms will riddle a ship's bottom in a few months ; 
the buoyant, leather-like birch bark for the shallow rapids 
of our Northern rivers ; and the tubular bamboo, the antipa- 
thy of the crocodile, for the travel over the deep rivers of 
India. 

We also met a vast shoal of crabs, several miles in breadth, 
moving to the northward ; the water seemed alive with these 
active swimmers, and the entire surface was bright with the 
tints of their shells. They seemed to be on passage, and 
were exceedingly beautiful as the dense mass rippled through 
the calm waters. 

Short-handed as we were, we took a whale on this pas- 
sage, the only noteworthy incident being that the game 
was so close inshore that one might almost look for sound- 
ings; yet the water was blue, and must have been deep. 
We also saw great numbers of finbacks and humpbacks. 
The latter is a bone whale, but the bone is short and of little 
value; it affords considerable quantities of an inferior oil, 
however, and is pursued from shore fisheries, as it is liable 
to sink after death. In the bays or shoal coasts the dead 
whale is anchored and buoyed, so that it may be recovered 
on rising, which it does in a day or two, when the gases 
expand the body and give it the necessary buoyancy. .We 
fell in with great numbers of black-fish, and spent several 
days in chasing them, finding much sport in their capture. 
These small whales are from sixteen to twenty-four feet in 
length, and furnish sometimes from three to five barrels of 



138 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OJi, 

oil. There is little danger attending their capture, though 
they may sometimes capsize a boat, or stave in a plank or 
two. A simple chance of drowning, or of being taken in by 
a shark, is the only drawback. We took about forty bar- 
rels of this oil, to meet the necessary expenses of our forced 
visit to Payta. In the absence of the two runaway boat- 
steerers, the captain gave his bow-oar chances in striking 
these fish, as did the mate to the historian Posey; and as 
that auburn-haired hero saw beyond the tall hump of each 
monster the smile of the Nantucket syren, his harpoon was 
unerring as the barbed arrows of Cupid. 

Rounding the bleak, sandy point of Cape Blanco, the ex- 
treme western land of the Western continent, we soon drop- 
ped anchor in the familiar waters of Payta. We here ship- 
ped eight men, two of whom professed to be boat-steerers. 
" Long Tom," who shipped for the captain's boat, was a 
specimen, New Bedford born and whaleman bred. Fire and 
wreck had cast him ashore at Monterey, Mexico, and fearing 
that a cruel fortune might cast him among the miserable 
hide-droghers of California, he worked his way to Payta for 
a chance of good society on board a whale-ship. Toni stood 
six feet two in his bare feet, for stockings he had not. He 
had a rough, good-natured, honest face, deep graven with 
lines of suffering, sorrow, and care, but not one of discontent 
and remorse. Thunder-scarred in -brow, his heart was kind 
and soft, as Dibdin sings. The remaining seven were the 
rough drift of humanity continually cast up in these Span- 
ish ports ; the refuse, or waste, of hundreds of whalers, seal- 
ers, and merchantmen. Save that they appeared mainly very 
promising food for the whale fight, they were not notable. 

New varieties of fruit having come in since our last visit, 
we tested them, but found nothing to wean us from the 
cherimoya. The ship was rich from the proceeds of our 
black-fish oil ; and lest we might lack for vegetable diet, in 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 139 

our long-contemplated, oft-defeated cruise on the offshore, 
we replenished our stores of sweet-potatoes, yams, onions, 
pumpkins, etc. Sailors lack ingenuity in invention for the 
gratification of appetite, a limited number of good things, 
each abundant, satisfying their simple tastes. And here, 
gentle reader, I will thrust upon you two stories which are 
worth the telling, inasmuch as they prove how modest the 
wants of sailors are: 

Honest Jack had just landed in New York, and was saun- 
tering up the street of streets, when he saw a decrepit, poor- 
ly dressed woman standing wringing her hands on one side 
of Broadway's horsy life, and wishing to reach the other. 
Polite policemen overlooked the old and helpless one, to fer- 
ry over the painted craft that cruise in that sea. Poor Jack 
marked the old woman's despair ; and, loving all womankind, 
in rough but effective politeness he gathered the poor pal- 
sied bundle of dry goods to his bosom, and forged his way, 
like a sea-steamer, through the current. When he reached 
the opposite side, he saw reposing in his strong arms, and 
nestling confidently to his loving heart, not the old woman, 
but the loveliest little rose-bud of femininity he had seen 
since the days of his childhood, when from a little cradle he 
had gazed on the face of his young mother. The fairy said 
to Jack — for the old lady was a fairy who came over with 
Henry Hudson, and had been wandering the streets of a 
great city for two centuries to find a heart that would do 
for age and deformity that which all will do for youth and 
grace — the fairy said to Jack, as the story goes, " You have 
restored me to my kingdom, and the three wishes of thy 
heart are thine. Wish with a bold heart, and be happy." 

" Well," replied Jack ; " faint heart never won, you know, 
so here goes for a kiss from your sweet lips." 

That was a wise first wish, for the fairy would carry the 
compliment in her heart through eternity. 



140 N1MROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

She continued : " Two more wishes remain to you ; don't 
waste them." 

" Ay, ay ; but you may save them for poor folks," said 
Jack ; " I want nothing more." 

Poor, foolish Jack ! With the world at his beck, Sol- 
omon chose wisdom, and all things were given to him. 
Jack asked for love, and was master of the world through 
its potent influence. His way from that day was smooth to 
the quarter-deck, and years after he told his grandchildren 
of the good fairy who totters down Broadway to test the 
hearts of the hurrying crowds. 

Another sailor, not so wise as the hero of my last story, 
was put to the ordeal of the three wishes. First he wished 
that all the continents, and mountains, and islands, and little 
rocks, and coral reefs were tobacco ; secondly, that all the 
oceans and seas, the lakes, rivers, little creeks, water-spouts, 
rains, and dews were grog. These two wishes were grant- 
•ed, and he tasted thereof and was glad ; but the third wish 
bothered him. He cast about to see what more a jolly tar 
could desire, and decided that he had all he wanted. 

So to our former store of potatoes and onions we added 
potatoes and onions ; and, rich in all that heart could wish, 
we made ready for an early departure from this miserable 
place. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 141 



CHAPTER XII. 

Leave Payta, and Long Tom's first Whale. — Bridled Whale. — Bow-oar 
hauling on. — Billon Cephalopods. — Ben on the Squid. — Ben on Whale's 
Feeding. — Long Tom and Beef Squid. — Sandwich Islander on Polypus. 
— Troublesome Tenant. — First Mate's Story of Squid, and Drowning of 
Captain. 

Aug. 10. We weighed anchor and stood out to sea, slant- 
ing to the southward, and intending to cruise on the off- 
shore ground as long as our water would allow. Within 
five hours from the time we broke our anchor from ground, 
we were in the boats, Long Tom steering ours. He had a 
chirpy way of keeping us to our work in a close chase, and 
some of his raillery, jerked out between the quick springing 
strokes, amused me much : " Now, Bill, it's for you and me 
to put the boat on that whale, but we won't do it if the 
starn keeps a-gaining on us. We must pull like thunder, I 
tell you, or the ' old man ' will carry the starn right over our 
heads. Pull, Bill, for good life ; the boat's getting shorter 
every minute. He's shovin' the starn ahead like a spy-glass 
shutting up, and he'll spit that whale with the steerin'-oar." 
And he accompanied the aim of his two harpoons with, 
" Take that, and that, and may God have mercy on all our 
souls !" Cool as he was on the main-hatch, the old experi- 
enced harpooner meant every word in prayerful earnest. He 
recited adventures that would lead any thoughtful man to 
cry out, " God be merciful to me a sinner !" But we had 
little time for moralizing with our whale in tow. The crea- 
ture gave his tail a quick upward fling, knocking the bow 
and tub oars out of our hands aloft. The next moment he 



142 NIMMOD OF THE SEA; < , 

apparently had an urgent call to windward, and hurried up 
to keep his engagement, we following him warily. A curi- 
ous incident occurred in the chase. In turning, the whale 
ran across the line in such way as to bring it into his mouth; 
he closed on it, and held on until he turned "fin out." 

Having him thus bridled, it was easy work to haul the 
boat well forward on his life ; and thus, side by side, boat 
and whale almost touching, we had a splendid brush to 
windward, the captain busily prodding with the long lance 
for the brute's life. At length a side roll, intended to bring 
the massive jaw. in play, laid bare the vital spot; in went 
the slender lance five feet deep, clean to the socket; and 
"churning" the weapon backward and forward without 
withdrawing it, the old man continued cutting desperately 
the vitals of the agonized monster. In vain the writhing! 
The great flukes went into the air; we were safely forward 
of them ; and stab after stab fiercely followed, until the next 
spout, which, with a wild yell, we saw was thick blood — a 
fountain, twelve inches diameter, of bright red blood, " thick 
as tar," as the captain said. At one time the fellow's poor 
sightless nose crossed the boat, and with a deep, horrible 
gurgling, the sickened giant spouted across the boat, send- 
ing ruby spray over the naked heads and arms of the crew. 
Horrible ! It poured scalding hot down my open breast, 
and, envenomed with rage, it seemed to blister and rasp the 
skin away in its lava-like course. 

The manner of riding alongside a running whale is thus : 
having hauled as well forward as the position of the har- 
poon will admit, the boat-header reaches over the bows, 
' and, taking hold of the line forward of the chocks, brings 
it around outside the boat, then giving it into the hands of 
the bow-oarsman, who has faced forward on his thwart. 
Now, as the man hauls on the line, the direction of strain is 
oblique, well back on the bow, and the course of the boat 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 143 

becomes parallel with that of the whale a few feet distance 
from him. The boat-header then has his chance to ply the 
lance with deadly effect. If the harpoon is well forward 
of the hump of the whale, the boat will run in comparative 
safety, as the strokes of the tail will be behind the boat, 
and the swing of the jaw in front. As long as the whale 
continues running in a straight course on the surface, the 
persistent boat will cling behind his fin as a bull-dog will to 
the nose of an ox. His only escape is to run deep, or, by 
suddenly milling or turning, to bring the boat in reach of 
jaw or flukes. The duty of the bow-oarsman is arduous 
when the whale is running fast, or there is a high sea. By 
his own strength he must keep the glancing boat in its po- 
sition, though drenched with the flying spray from the bow. 
Should the strain wrench the wet line through his burned 
hands, the blessings of the excited boat-header are poured 
on his head with a vigor heard only in the rushing hiss of 
this " Nantucket sleigh-ride." But the position is also in- 
tensely interesting, as much of the time the oarsman rides 
face on, and has the best and closest point for observing the 
actions of a whale in his death fight. Generally it is the first 
class in the school, and the tyro learns the a, b, c of whale- 
catching, and he has but a step to the harpooner's place. 

In the glowing sunset the great creature was peacefully 
anchored at the bow of our ship, and the Chelsea, with 
foretop-sail aback, drifted quietly in sight of Payta, under 
the shadow of the Cordilleras. Inspired by the incidents of 
the day, the calm beauty of the night, and our new compan- 
ions, it is not to be wondered at that the earlier watches 
were spent in comparing experiences, and in the interchange 
of opinions concerning the mysteries of the life we were 
leading. 

Of course we talked of whales and their ways. As we 
gathered in the forecastle, the plash of the waves on our 



144 NIMROD OF THE HE A; OE, 

prey, the slap of some hungry sharks' tails, and the rattle of 
the fluke-chain, naturally gave tone to the yarns of the even- 
ing. Whale-feed was the immediate subject, when Ben put 
in his oar : " Cephalopods be blowed ! Just hocus the ma- 
rines with them Ciferen poddies / I tell you, sparm- whales 
feed on squid, and sometimes a blue shark is took in with 
the crumbs." 

The bow-oarsman, myself, who had been talking, now con- 
tinued: "With all respect for your extreme ugliness, my 
beloved Benjamin, I reiterate that the right-whale feeds on 
medusas, and other minute forms of animal life; and the 
spermaceti feeds on octopods, cephalopods, and onycholen- 
thus, the meaning of the same, in the vernacular, being the 
horrible polypus." 

"Why didn't you stick to wormicular from the jump, 
and say polly pusses when you meant polly pusses V growl- 
ed the old sea-bear, as he lay comfortably propped against 
the sleeping body of an old sow, which nightly served as a 
pillow to some luxurious sleeper in the watch on deck. 

" If that lily-livered book-worm," Ben continued, " will 
permit a remark from an old fellow that was twice wrecked 
before he was kittened, I would venter to say that the yarns 
ashore about scuttle-fishes, and uproriusses oxymuriaticusses 
is all gammon and greens for the bringin' up of land-lubbers. 
You can remark, fellers, how the same works on Bill there. 
And they draw picters of 'em, too. Now that's ag'in natur', 
as far as the great squid is concerned ; for I tell you, boys, 
one and all, no mortal man ever set eyes on it and come back 
to tell the story. The squid is the greatest mystery of the 
deep water. We don't know any thing about it, only that 
it lives, and that it nestles away deep, deep down about 
the roots and foundations of continents. And the wise 
Creator, before he launched the first sperm-whale, sheathed 
him with thick blubber, and cushioned his brain-pan with 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 



145 




EIGHT-AKMED OTTTTLE-FIBH (SEPIA OOTOPU6). — FKONT VIEW. 

junk and case, so that he could follow the squid to its deep- 
est home. 

"A big bull-whale, you know, sounds down for an hour 
and a half, and he can go down three miles in twenty min- 
utes, and he comes up with his hold filled with chunks of 

1 



146 NIjntOD OF THE SEA; OH, 

squid bigger thau the main-hatch. Pie hews off the arms, 
or tentackellums, as Bill calls 'em, more 'n forty foot long. 
Lord, how he just does go down, boys ! He goes down like 
a lump of lead, full ten-knots' speed, till he sinks so deep 
that the squeeze of the water would mash in a mainmast; 
so deep that water would drive through a cork ; and so deep 
that a thing must have life in it ever to get up ag'in. Why, 
I heard Captain Swaim say that a whale must often bear a 
pressure equal to three hundred thousand tons ; but the same 
I don't believe, of course, for the reason as I told you. No- 
body comes back to tell what happens when the sperm-whale 
and squid feed together. I am willin' to believe that the 
whale gits purty close nippered, for I've seen him shoot out 
of the sea jist as a water-melon seed slips from the finger 
and thumb and shoots inter the face of our sweetheart, 
God bless her ! I jist believe — for there can be no knowing 
— I just believe that the spermaceti squid is the very big- 
gest living critter in the universe. There is nothing greater 
than the squid, exceptin' our ignorance of it. They are both 
without limit. 

" Why, sirs, you and me have seen the lanced whale 
snortin' thick blood, and heavin' up in his throat hogsheads 
of squid. You may see broad flat pieces, of all shapes and 
sizes, a-floatin' over the feedin'-grounds of whales, and you 
never see a piece that gives you any idea of the shape or 
size of the whole fish. You never see a piece as has a sel- 
vage edge on to it. You never yet see an outside piece. 
No, they are all chunks, cut ragged and jagged with the 
teeth of the whales. 

"I jist believe that the bottom of the bottomless sea is 
only squid ; it lays down there white as daylight, in the dark, 
deep water ; its great arms are coiled around the foundation- 
pillars of the island, and its thousand other arms, bigger than 
ships' masts, are gatherin' up dead whales, and drownded 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 147 

sailors, and foundered ships ; and it buries them all in its 
lower hold, and keeps the sea sweet and clean." 

We applauded Ben's theory of the squid, and most of the 
old hands vouched for the facts on which it was based. 
Only one said he had seen a squid, but it was " Sighted from 
the mast-head with the cry of breakers ahead ; and when the 
men came closer it was like an island of white coral sand, 
with white trunks of trees, shaped like corkscrews." The 
sea was breaking heavily on the low beach ; and when the 
ship came within two miles it went down out of sight, so 
that we could run over the place without getting soundings. 
Our new boat-steerer, Long Tom, next told us of an adven- 
ture with the " reef squid." 

" Once I was ashore in Lee Bay, Galapagos, and carried 
with me a seal club, as I wanted a lion for moccasins. I was 
wading round a low rocky point not half-knee deep, but deep 
just outside, when I saw a big ' reef squid ' cutting along 
on top of water. He made considerable thrashing as he 
come along, like a whirligig water-wheel ; his body part look- 
ed bigger than I am, and his arms two or three times as 
long. It headed into the little bay ahead of me, and when it 
got into about three foot water it dropped anchor, and begun 
to feel round with three or four of its arms. The upper side 
of the arms were brown-colored, like the rocks, with wrinkles 
and stiff bristles along the edge ; the under side was white, 
with suckers like saucers, in two rows. What I took to be 
the head had something like eyes, though I couldn't make 
'em out plain. I didn't think of any danger as I waded to 
it, but it seemed to be watching me, for it squared around 
head on. I hit it a clip with my iron-bound seal club, when, 
quick as a thought, it took a turn around the stick and held 
on. I pulled my blessedest, but the critter was too much 
for me. Just then it showed its head ; it shot out from the 
round knob in front — a brown and purple spotted head, and 



148 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

in a minute I felt its arms thrown around me; one arm 
touched my bare leg, and another my neck, and the suckers 
took hold like doctor's cups. It began to heave and haul on 
me. You may guess I pulled and hollered. I got out my 
knife and hacked at it, but I guess it would have mastered 
me if Captain Dagget hadn't come up in time and fired both 
barrels of his gun in its head. Then it let go, and slid back- 
ward into deep water. As good fortune, or something bet- 
ter, happened it, I was in shallow water, and so far off that 
only the ends of the arms reached me, or I am sure I would 
have been only as a little fly in the claws of a Selango spider. 
I fight shy of reef-squid ever since, and I wouldn't go in to 
swim in Selango Bay for the best sperm-whale afloat. I 
shouldn't wonder a bit if many men went under with this 
fish, when it has been thought they were attacked with the 
cramp." 

I suggested sharks as a cause of supposed drowning also ; 
Tom replied that the shark usually showed his back fin, but 
that "this cussed thing would just anchor on the bottom, 
and throw up one or two arms, and curl around your leg 
and yank you right out of sight." 

One of the men shipped in Payta was a Sandwich Island 
Kanaka, named a new name, as is the custom on board 
whalers. His latest name was Chock-a-block • but he 
would answer to either, and sometimes to Blockhead. 
However, he was not so called from any deficiency, as he 
was shrewd enough, and had done good service in our boat. 
As he showed signs of knowing something about squids, 
we encouraged him to "loose his jawing-tackle and heave 
ahead." 

Squid began : " Ouri mi ti petre " (bad fish) ; and in broken 
English, interpreted by Hinton,he went on to tell us the fol- 
lowing story, from which I inferred that he had a polypus in 
his head rather than a squid or cuttle-fish. He described his 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 149 

fish as being like a glove, but large enough to catch and 
swallow sharks, etc., and very dangerous to men. The open 
end of the glove was the mouth, and the fingers represented 
long arms, which it could reach forward of the mouth to 
seize and hold its prey. It had but the one opening into 
the stomach ; and when indigestible matter, as bones, etc., 
became inconvenient, it quietly reached two of its arms to 
the bottom of its stomach and brought away the superfluous 
matter. Leaving Chock-a-block for a moment, I will inform 
young and inquiring readers that the polypi are not partic- 
ular as to diet — "AH is fish that conies to the net;" and 
they have no aversion to eating near relatives. In a word, 
they will seize their kind, and stow the victims away in their 
capacious stomachs. According to the Kanaka, Greek meets 
Greek when polypus meets polypus. After a valiant tussle, 
one swallows but does not vanquish the other. On the con 
trary, the swallowed backs into some convenient recess of 
the swallower's stomach, and there puts forth his arms, for- 
aging on surrounding territory, and unkindly eating all he 
can find, much to the loss and damage of the outsider. In 
due order, a second and smaller relative is taken in by No. 1, 
and No. 2 feels bound to dispose of every thing that comes 
down. He takes in the hew lodger and a dinner at one gulp. 
Of course, this state of things can not continue long. No. 1 
is getting hungry; he has been industrious, but it has been 
for others' benefit. He proceeds to investigate by swallow- 
ing the hooked end of four or more of his arms, and with 
these he overhauls cargo, and discovers the well-to-do eater 
of all his dinners. A writ of ejectment is issued, and sum- 
mary process resorted to. But No. 2 has had such a good 
time in the oyster - cellar that he says Nay, and throwing 
around his arms, hooks, and suckers, he anchors fast to the 
wrinkled, emaciated stomach which he has so grievously 
wronged. Now comes the tug of war. No. 1 pulls for good 



150 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

life; ISTo. 2 holds on only for a good dinner, so he is bound 
to come, and come he does. But he never lets go his grip, 
and turns the stomach of his antagonist inside out. This is 
to the eventual benefit of the revolutionized animal, who ob- 
tains a new stomach, and begins life anew, with a good diges- 
tion and resolves. Did you ever hear of a better cure for 
dyspepsia ? Such was Kanaka's natural history of the poly- 
pi of the Polynesias. 

Our mate, who not unfrequently lent a hand to an even- 
ing's entertainment in his more learned way, now joined in 
and told us that the Kanakas of all the islands have a well- 
founded dread of the shore-squid, for the strongest swim- 
mer is powerless in its arms, aside from the paralyzing influ- 
ences of the suckers. 

An occurrence in the Mediterranean Sea was mentioned, as 
told by Sir Grenville Temple, in his "Excursions" over that 
sea. " A Sardinian captain bathing at Jerbeh felt one of 
his feet in the grasp of one of these animals. With his oth- 
er foot he tried to disengage himself, but this limb was im- 
mediately seized by another of the monster's arms ; he then, 
with his hands, tried to free himself, but these were also 
firmly grasped by the polypus, and the poor man was short- 
ly after found drowned, with all his limbs bound together 
by the arms of the fish. And it is extraordinary that Avhere 
this happened the water was scarcely four feet in depth." 

Much to the satisfaction of the bow-oar, and to the dis- 
taste of old Ben, the learned mate continued his readings : 

"The Sepia octopas, or sea-squid, sometimes reaches an 
enormous size. Mr. Henry Baker, F.R.S., states ' that it can, 
by spreading its arms abroad like a net, so fetter and entan- 
gle the prey they inclose when they are drawn together, as 
to render the victim incapable of exerting its strength ; for, 
however feeble the octopas's branches, or arms, may be sin- 
gly, their, power united becomes surprising ; and we are as- 




Hlk \ M^^&M^^^i 




11E.U0KIAL 1'IOTITKE. 

Fae-simile of the Commemorative Painting in the Church of St. Maloe, FraDce. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 153 



sured nature is so kind to these animals, that if, in their 
struggles, any of their arms are broken off, after some time 
they will grow again.' 

" It is evident, from what has been said, that the sea-poly- 
pus must' be terrible to the inhabitants of the water in pro- 
portion to its size. Pliny mentions one whose arms were 
forty feet long, and Dr. Schewediawer speaks of one whose 
limb measured twenty-seven feet in length, as it was found 
entangled in the jaw of a sperm-whale. One end of it was 
corroded in the whale's stomach, so that, in its natural state, 
it may have been greatly longer. 'When we consider,' says 
the doctor; 'the enormous bulk of the tentacuium here 
spoken of, we shall cease to wonder at the common saying 
of the fisherman that the squid is the largest fish in 'the 
ocean.' " 

" He is right in that last observation," growled Ben ; " but 
he had to guess at its size, without knowing whether it had 
ten or a thousand arms to swing about on the bottom of the 
sea." 

The mate continued : " Here, you boy, bring a light from 
the binnacle, and I will show you the picture of a squid 
boarding a ship. It is a fac-simile of a commemorative pic- 
ture in the Church of St. Maloe, France. Montfort gives the 
story of this painting on the authority of some of the crew 
of the vessel, to whom the adventure it represents happened. 
Their ship was on the West African coast; the men w r ere 
heaving up the anchor, when a monstrous cuttle-fish appear- 
ed on the surface of the water and coiled its terrible arms 
about the masts of the ship ; their tips reached to the mast- 
heads, and the weight of the cuttle dragged the ship over 
so that she lay on her beam-ends. The crew seized axes 
and knives, and cut away at the arms of the monster, but, 
despairing of escape, called upon their patron saint, Thomas, 

to help them. Their prayers and knives finally succeeded 

*7* 



154 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

in so alarming and wounding their enemy that it sank into 
the sea. The grateful crew, in commemoration of their mi- 
raculous deliverance from this hideous danger, marched in 
procession to the Chapel of St. Thomas, where they offered 
solemn thanksgiving, and had a painting made representing 
the conflict with the cuttle. This painting hung in the 
chapel when Montfort saw it." 

Now the bard and nightingale of the ship sang : 

" His head he seeks 'mid coral rocks to hide, 
Nor e'er hath man his eye espied ; 
Nor could its deadly glare abide. 

" Mussels and crabs, and all the shelly race, 
In spacious banks still crowd for place, 
A gristly beard around his face. 

" When Medgard's worm his fetters strives to break, 
Riseth the sea, the mountains quake ; 
The fiends in Nastroma merry make." 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 155 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The Sperm-whale as it appears to Whalemen. — As a game Animal. — Idle 
•Life on board, and Prizes for raising Whale. — Pig Sacrifice. — Whale- 
man in the Boat. — The Perfection of Whale-boat. — Equipment of the 
Whale-boat. — Ketrospection in Boat. 

I have been showing the board spread for the entertain- 
ment of the whale, and the master of the feast has not been 
described, complains a reader. That has been done in books 
innumerable, I answer. My business is rather with the ways 
of the whale, as he shows himself to us whalemen in inci- 
dents of the chase. I will not trouble myself with the anat- 
omy of the whales or of the whalemen, but will show the 
ways of both as they come to us in the voyage before us. 
Forgetting mercenary considerations, one has but to look 
at this huge mammal with a sportsman's instinct, and the 
charm will be at once perceived which attracts the advent- 
urous youth of New England to launch out on voyages 
lasting a large part of a lifetime on distant seas, and to en- 
counter the icy rigors of the Arctic and Antarctic, and the 
burning heats of the tropics. If we regard the whale as a 
game animal, and his capture as a field-sport, then how regal 
our pursuit becomes in all its appointments ! Our ship is 
one of a royal fleet of costly ships, amply provided; we are 
a squad only of an army of precious lives ; we have flown 
on the wings of the wind over twenty -four thousand miles 
of this good world's surface, and have just fairly entered 
on the hunt ; we have tracked to its haunts a game so huge 
that flocks of land animals measure less than he. We have 
means of attack and defense, in comparison with which 



156 NIMROD OF THE SEA; UA\ 

those of the lion and tiger are infantine and trivial. We 
have had a slight foretaste of the exposure, privation, and 
danger, in comparison with which other field-sports are 
tame, safe, and effeminate. Name, if you can, another pur- 
suit so courageous and grand ! 

/Sept. 5. It is about three weeks since we took our last 
whale, and we have had the greatest trial which attend the 
whalemen. The dullness and tedium of life on board ship 
at such quiet times is almost unendurable. The uninterrupt- 
ed fine weather, the steady trade-wind, the daily routine of 
make sail, man mast-heads, scrub decks; breakfast," dinner, 
supper ; shorten sail, boat's-crew Watch, and " turn in," give 
not a line for a journal. The men become morose and quar- 
relsome ; we hate each other, and numerous scores are run 
up, and appointments made to fight them out in the first 
port we make. The violin fails to move, the song to enliven, 
and the yarn to interest us. According to custom, and as a 
diversion, a red flannel shirt has been offered as a prize to 
him who may raise the first whale captured, and a pair of 
duck trovvsers have been added. Pounds of tobacco are 
offered by the mate, but the days pass uninterestingly. A 
bright gold doubloon is nailed to the mainmast, well out of 
reach, but in sight of all, as another reward to good eyes. 
Now there is more life at the mast-head. Not a 'white-cap 
can show, a porpoise jump, or finback spout, but that the 
alarm is given, in hope that it may lead to a capture, and so 
obtain for the discoverer the pretty piece of gold glittering 
on the white mast. In vain ! All the whales seem to have 
gone to the bottom for a Rip Van Winkle nap. We all 
know they can do this, though it is contrary to the books, 
which tell us that they are warm-blooded mammals: even 
this is not the worst names the learned have given them. 
But whales are uneducated, don't take the papers, and 
without thought of irregularity, stay down to suit their con- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 157 

venience an hour or a week. Like the original Kentuckian, 
Nimrod Wildfire, we were spoiling for a fight, when the 
captain ordered the sacrifice of a pig to propitiate our pat- 
ron saints. The offering was accepted, for the protesting 
squeak of poor piggy was blended with the yell of " There 
she blows!" and " Sperm-whale, sir." "Where away?" 
roared the officers. And in answer was heard Hinton's 
sweetest song, "Four points on lee bow." We squared in 
the yards and kept off, 'and away we ran merrily. At two 
miles' distance from what seemed a good whale, the boats 
were lowered. The activity of the men, as they sprang bare- 
footed into the boats and cast off the davit- tackles; the 
readiness with which they handled the long, heavy oai*, and 
dropped them silently into the well -thrummed thole-mats, 
and the ease with which the) r fell into the stroke, were won- 
derful. Four boats were down and heading to leeward, 
their course divergent, so that at two miles from the ship 
we peaked our oars with a space of about one-third of a 
mile between the boats, thus commanding a reach of nearly 
two miles' front. 

As the boats thus ride the long, rolling swell of the sea 
lightly and gracefully as an albatross (and I know nothing 
more graceful than that), let us glance at the whale-boat and 
its fittings. It is the fruit of a century's experience, and the 
sharpened sense and ingenuity of an inventive people, urged 
by the peril of the chase and the value of the prize. For 
lightness and form ; for carrying capacity as compared with 
its weight and sea-going qualities ; for speed and facility of 
movement at the word of command ; for the placing of the 
men at the best advantage in the exercise of their power; 
by the nicest adaptation of the varying length of the oar to 
its position in the boat; and, lastly, for a simplicity of con- 
struction which renders repairs practicable on board the 
ship, the whale-boat is simply as perfect as the combined 



158 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OB, 

skill of the million men who have risked life and limb in 
service could make it. This paragon of a boat is twenty- 
eight feet long, sharp and clean cut as a dolphin, bow and 
stern swelling amidships to six feet, with a bottom round 
and buoyant. The gunwale amidships, twenty-two inches 
above the keel, rises with an accelerated curve to thirty- 
seven inches at each end, and this rise of bow and stern, 
with the clipper-like upper form, gives it a duck-like ca- 
pacity to top the oncoming waves, so that it will dryly ride 
when ordinary boats would fill. The gunwales and keel, 
of the best timber, are her heaviest parts, and give stiffness 
to the whole ; the timbers, sprung to shape, are a half-inch 
or three-quarters in depth, and the planking is half- inch 
white cedar. Her thwarts are inch pine, supported by knees 
of greater strength than the other timbers. The bow-oar 
thwart is pierced by a three-inch hole for the mast, and is 
double-kneed. Through the cuddy-board projects a silk hat- 
shaped loggerhead, for snubbing and managing the running 
line ; the stem of the boat is deeply grooved on top, the bot- 
tom of the groove being bushed with a block of lead, or 
sometimes a bronze roller, and over this the line passes from 
the boat. Four feet of the length of the bow is covered in 
by a depressed box, in which the spare line, attached to har- 
poons, lies in carefully adjusted coils. Immediately back 
of the box is a thick pine plank, in which the " clumsy cleet," 
or knee-brace, is cut. The gunwale is pierced at proper dis- 
tances for thole-pins, of wood, and all sound of the work- 
ing oars are muffled by well-thrummed mats, kept carefully 
greased, so that we can steal on our prey silent as the cav- 
alry of the poor badgered Lear. The planking is carefully 
smoothed with sand-paper, and painted. Here we have a 
boat which two men may lift, and which will make ten miles 
an hour in dead chase by the oars alone. 

The equipment of the boat consists of a line-tub, in which 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 159 

are coiled three hundred fathoms of hemp line, with every 
possible precaution against kinking in the outrun; a mast 
and sprit-sail ; five oars ; the harpoon and after-oar, fourteen 
feet; the tub and bow-oar, sixteen feet; and the midship, 
eighteen feet long; so placed that the two shortest and one 
longest pull against the two sixteen-feet oars, which arrange- 
ment preserves the balance in the encounter when the boat 
is worked by four oars, the harpoon-oar being apeak. The 
boat is steered by an oar twenty-two feet long, which works 
through a grummet on the stern-post. The gear of the boat 
consists of two live harpoons, or those in use, and two or 
three span-irons, i. e., harpoons secured to the side of the 
boat above the thwarts, and two or three lances, secured by 
cords in like position, the sharp heads of all these being 
guarded by well-fitted, soft-wood sheaths. The harpoon is 
a barbed, triangular iron, very sharp on the edges, or it is a 
long, narrow piece of iron, sharpened only on one end, and 
affixed on the shank by a rivet, so placed that before use 
the cutting edge is on a line with the shank, but after pen- 
etrating the whale, and, on being drawn back, the movable 
piece drops at right angles to the shank, and forms a square 
toggle about six inches across the narrow wound caused by 
its entrance. The porpoise iron is preferred among the 
Arctic whalemen, as, owing to the softness of their blubber, 
the fluked harpoon is apt to cut its way out. The upper 
end of a shank, thirty inches long, terminates in a socket, 
into which a heavy oak or hickory sapling pole six feet long 
is introduced. A short piece of whale line with an eye- 
splice at one end is then wrapped twice around the shank 
below the socket and close spliced. This line is stretched 
with great strain, and secured to the pole with a slight seiz- 
ing of rope-yarn, intended to pay away and loose the pole 
in a long fight. The tub-line is secured to the eye of the 
short line after the boat is lowered. The lance is simply 
an oval-headed instrument, with a cutting edge, a shank five 



160 NIMIiOD OF THE SEA; OB, 

or six feet long, and a handle as long, with a light warp 
to recover it. A hatchet and a sharp knife are placed in 
the bow-box, convenient for cutting the line, and a water- 
keg, fire apparatus, candles, lantern, comj^ass, and bandages 
for wounds, with waif flags on poles, a fluke-spade, a boat- 
hook, and a " drug," or dragging float, complete the equip- 
ment of a whale-boat. Among this crowd of dangerous 
lines and threatening cutting gear, are six pair of legs, be- 
longing to six skilled boatmen. Such a whale-boat is ours 
as she floats two miles from the ship, each man in the crew 
watching under the blade of his peaked oar for the rising- 
whale, and the captain and boat-steerer standing on the 
highest point, carefully sweeping the horizon with trained 
eye to catch the first spout, and secure the chance of "get- 
ting on." 

At this moment of rest, when on the point of entering a 
contest in which the chances of mishap seem wonderfully 
provided for, I found that a green hand is apt to run back 
over his life with something of regret always, or forward, 
with a half-vow that from then and there, for ever and ever, 
he "will be a better boy. The Frenchwoman found goodness 
possible when she was well dressed. I found evil hateful 
when I was near a sperm-whale. But how one wakes up 
from such moralizing as the captain lightly drops from his 
perch, runs out his steering-oar, and lays the boat around, 
with the words, "Take your oars, and spring; the whale's 
half a mile off!" That means that we are just four min- 
utes from the whale, provided he is not running. 

It would cheer a club man's heart to watch the move- 
ments of the crew, the splendid stroke and time, the perfect 
feather of the oars, their silent dip on entering the foaming 
whirl of the lifted water, the ashen shaft working silently in 
the oiled mat, the poise of the crew, as the five trained ath- 
letes urge their perfect structure through the waves. Long 
and careful training under danger breeds a unity in the men. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 161 

The five work as a single hand under the direction of him 
who is steering and throwing his whole standing force in 
the push on the after-oar. Every energy of my soul and 
body is centred in that bow-oar, and I do not differ from 
four others who share in the excitement. An occasional 
glance at my springing ash, the leaping little waves, and the 
resolute face of the captain, tell me to a fathom the position 
of the chase. His eyes are fixed on the rising and sinking 
whale; color has left his features; his pale lips are drawn 
tight as he sways back and forth to the stroke of the oar. 
He, too, is straining on, and jerks out words of command, 
exhortation, and promise, to urge our energies to fiercer effort. 

We are coming up at killing pace. The captain, eloquent, 
unconscious of his words, yet with method in his frenzy, still 
urges us on. Now the puff of a spout joins the splash of 
the bow, and the old man's voice sinks to a fierce whisper 
as he promises all his tobacco, a share in his little farm at 
home, and his "lay" in the whale, as he adjures us to put 
him on. Human muscle can not stand the strain much 
longer ; the boat seems as lead ; boiling foam curls and bub- 
bles around the boat's head. The old man glances almost 
as low as the head of the boat; a puff is heard just under 
the bows; my oar-blade dips in the eddying wake of the 
whale's last upward stroke, and right under its blade I see 
the broad half-moon of his flukes as we shoot across the cor- 
ner of them. Now the odor of the whale, like a bank of sea- 
weed, comes over us. " Stand up, Ben ! Pull, pull for life ! 
Good, good ! Now again ! Goody Lord, give it to him !" 
The backward start of the boat and the upward fling of the 
flukes tell the rest of that story. A stroke or two astern, and 
we pant for breath in safety. 

But lest the reader might labor under the mistake that 
all our prizes are secured simply by the planting of the har- 
poon, I shall skip from the present whale, which gave us lit- 
tle trouble, to another. 



162 NIMROD OF THE SEA ; OR, 



CHAPTER XIV. 

A Whale-chase. — Boat stove, and novel Itescue. — Spade to stop running 
Whale. — The good Captain savage. — Fast Line, and Captain cooled 
down. — Captain apologizes. — On Hand and Gun Harpoons. — Hand- 
lance and Bomb-lance. — Erroneous Figures of Whales. — Cuvier's Ex- 
planation. — Desmaret and Lesson. — Explanation of Illustration of 
Sperm-whale. — Sight of the Whale. — Description of Head. — Ben Rus- 
sell's Pictures. — Professors Jameson and Murray. — A Harper's Whale. 
— Jardin and Beal's Figures. — How to see Whales jump clear of the 
Water, and to multiply their Tails. 

Oct. 20. Lat. 5° 40' S., long. 107° 37' W. The watch was 
employed in breaking out to make stowage for one hundred 
and fifteen barrels of oil now on deck, the fruit of two 
whales taken on the 11th and 14th insts. While the decks 
were all a "clutter," we raised a school of sperm-whales. 
They were erratic in their movements, and it required sever- 
al hours of manoeuvre to get the ship in a position for low- 
ering the boats. But once we were down, it was not long- 
before the mate fastened to a large bull. .This proved to 
be an ugly customer, cross-grained, and bent on mischief. 
He ran swiftly a short distance under water, and took out 
considerable line ; then, turning in his course, he rose to the 
surface, and came down full speed, head far out of water, 
striking one boat partially with his jaw, staving in her 
broadside, and rolling her over. Our boat hurried to the 
rescue, and as we pulled up the scene was stirring to our 
nerves, be assured. The crew of the overturned boat were 
swimming, and all six heads could be counted, which was 
a relief. The whale lay a short distance from the boat, 
thrashing the water madly with his flukes, and before we 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 163 

got on he again attacked the wreck and struck it with his 
jaw, cutting off about one-third of her length. As we pulled 
past, two poor fellows, who were clinging to the bottom, beg- 
ged for God's sake we would save them. The captain's quick 
eye saw that the swimming crew were well provided with 
means of support, and that the waist-boat was fast coming 
up ; so he told them to hold on, and that he would coax the 
whale away. The poor devils had a right to be gallied just 
then, for the mad beast was coming down on them, his ugly, 
fifteen-foot jaw at right angles with his body, and ivory 
gleaming about it. Watching a chance, Ben made a long 
dart and struck the bull before he reached the shattered 
boat. This seemed to astonish the creature, and with a 
grand flourish of flukes he put away to windward at a tre- 
mendous pace. Evidently, we had a desperate fellow to deal 
with. What with this continued speed, and the promiscu- 
ous manner in which he tossed his tail, it was impossible 
to haul line and range alongside. Resort was had to the 
spade. We hauled line until the head of the boat was a 
little astern of the spiteful flukes, and, watching his chances, 
the captain pitched the broad-edged tool over the flukes 
into the small, with the hope of severing the tendons of the 
tail, which here came near the surface. If this piece of sur- 
gery had proved successful, the whale must have heaved 
to on losing control of his propeller. But it was a difficult 
amputation to jDerform on a kicking, fighting whale. He 
ran with undiminished speed, often rolling as he went, so 
as to give his flukes a side-cutting power, with the amiable 
intent of smashing his little antagonist. 

I have already described the method of sheering the boat 
to one side of the whale, and running parallel with him, by 
taking a bight of the line over the side of the boat. In this 
instance bow-oar had been tugging at the line for an hour, 
but was utterly unable to get the boat in advance of the 



164 NIMROD OF TEE SEA; OX, 

llukes. A little line might be gained for a short time, but 
it would soon be torn through the clinging hands, almost 
taking the flesh with it. This was certainly aggravating to 

the excited captain. Captain B was a religious man, 

and under his own vine and fig-tree, with none to rile or 
make afraid, I guess he would average well in patience line. 
But with our troubles on this day, I believe he wished that 
there had been no sin in a ripping oath. He was a little hard 
on his bow-oarsman, and rather more than hinted at some- 
body's cowardice. This was too much for my hot Welsh 
blood, and with the aid of two others I brought the boat 
right up to the iron, and coolly passed a bight around the 
thwart and made all fast. This suggested that there would 
be a thundering vow in the boat directly, if the whale was 
not killed. 

The captain was delighted to be held so well up to his 
work, and he plied his lance, thrust after thrust; but the 
brute seemed to bear a charmed life. He would not spout 
blood, and the little jets of blood which spirt from a lance 
wound would not bleed a whale to death in a week. Our 
boat buried her nose in the waves, and the bloody spray 
leaped over her side as we swept right royally onward. 

Now our. majestic race-horse grew impatient of our prod- 
ding. He milled short across our course, and we ran plump 
against his head. 

" Slack line !" roared the old man. " Starn all ! Slack line 
and starn !" 

He turned in his tracks to step aft of the bow-oar, fearing 
the up-cut of the jaw, when he saw that the line was fast 
about the thwart. " For God's sake, clear that line !" he 
shouted, as he sprung forward for the hatchet to cut; but 
the loosened bight went over the side, as the whale came up 
under the forward part of the boat, and carried the bow clear 
of the water as he rounded slowly forward. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 165 

At this moment the captain and old Ben occupied the 
stern of the boat, and in the perilous moment I was just mad 
enough to enjoy the expectant look with which the two old 
whalemen awaited the arrival of the oncoming flukes. For- 
tunately for us all, the blow was delayed a moment, and when 
the thundering concussion came, it cleared our boat by a 
few feet. 

The other boats were out of sight, and the ship's hull was 
dimly seen to leeward. Yet for two hours more the whale 
ran and fought with redoubled energy. The captain got 
long darts with the lance, but to no good effect ; the iron 
drew, and the victorious whale passed away from us. We 
were fagged and dead-beat ; almost worn to death, and we 
did not reach the ship until long after night-fali. The other 
boats picked up the mate's crew, no one having been hurt. 

On the following day the captain did handsomely by his 
bow-oar by remarking to me that an officer in the boat nev- 
er meant half he said, and that such scolding was his habit. 
" But," he solemnly added, " never again, under any possible 
circumstances, make a line fast between the boat and a whale. 
Why, if that mad whale had gone down, the boat would have 
been a quarter of a mile under water in less than a minute, 
and half the crew might have been with it !" Bow-oar sug- 
gested that it was better to be under water than live under 
a charge of cowardice. The old man overlooked this impu- 
dence, and turned on his heel. Thus I have shown that the 
harpoon is to fasten to the whale, the line to keep communi- 
cation with it, and the lance is the instrument by which it is 
killed, a spade being sometimes used to check a running 
whale. 

I have heard of a modern invention to kill whales, in the 
form of a shortgun, fired from the shoulder of the boat- 
header. The invention is known as the " bomb-lance." It 
consists of a tube of iron about eighteen inches long, sharp 



166 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

at the forward end, and provided with elastic wings at the 
back. These serve as the feather of an arrow. The cavity 
of the tube contains six ounces of powder, and a fuse which 
is fired in the discharge of the giyi, and aimed at the most 
vital part of the whale. It is driven deep within the body, 
when it explodes, often killing the whale almost instantly. 
But our whalemen have never adopted the English and 
French " harpoon gun." It is regarded as clumsy, and un- 
certain in fastening. We throw the harpoon by hand, and 
experiment on the life of the whale after we are well fast 
with hand or bomb lances. 

Judging by the illustrations of the sperm-whale, as given 
in the various natural histories which treat on it, there is 
great diversity of opinion regarding the form of both this 
species and of the right whale. Cuvier says : 

" It is concerning very large animals that the greatest er- 
rors and confusion exist. This remark applies especially to 
the cetacea. They astonish every one by the immensity 
of their dimensions, and their capture has for ages given 
employment to unwearied efforts of activity and courage ; 
but except under favorable circumstances, when rarely strand- 
ed near some intelligent naturalist, they have scarcely ever 
been described with accuracy, and still less minutely exam- 
ined. Thousands of mariners have captured and cut up 
whales who have never accurately examined one of them ; 
and yet it is upon their vague descriptions and figures that 
zoologists have endeavored to establish the natural history 
of these animals. This is the true cause why the history of 
the cetacea is so meagre, yet so full of contradiction and rep- 
etition." 

Desmaret made the whale a special study, and wrote of 
sixty-three species; yet twenty which figure in his "Mam- 
malogie " are doubtful, or not established. Lesson, learned 
and trained in observation, remarks, that of eighty-four spe- 



FiG.I 




-^ 



a 



Vi^.2, 




OITTL1NKG OF BJ'EEM-WII AT.K. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 169 

cies he classified, he could vouch for the accuracy and exist- 
ence of not more than fifty. And what whaleman would 
venture to elect which has taken the widest departure from 
reality in the delineation of the Greenland whale — the learn- 
ed Frenchman, Lacepedas, or the experienced English whale- 
man, Scoresby ? Lesson sounded deep in this fog-bank, and 
in despair he wrote : " What an impenetrable veil covers our 
knowledge of cetaceaf Groping in the dark, we advance in 
a field strewn with thorns." As a humble groper in this 
thorny path, as one of the twenty " thousand mariners who " 
to-day "capture and cut up whales," I present simple out- 
lines of the form of the sperm-whale, remarking that the fig- 
ures have been examined and approved by a number of our 
old and experienced whaling captains — approved so far as a 
representation of such immense dimensions could be render- 
ed in so small a figure. 

Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 give a view of the sperm-whale, as seen 
•with the belly and back uppermost respectively. Fig. 3 is 
a side-view, and in such a position as the whale is generally 
represented. It is this view which has conveyed the erro- 
neous idea that the sperm-whale is a clumsy, illy-proportioned 
animal, one obviously incapable of the feats of speed and ac- 
tivity which whalemen ascribe to it. Remember that the 
motion of the whale's tail is up and down, and that it is the 
upward blow which elevates the great head above the sur- 
face and impels his great bulk forward. And see how ad- 
mirably adapted is his form for the most direct application 
of his enormous power ! A line drawn from the hump to 
the root of the tail is the line on which his powerful muscles 
act to give this upward blow. Then look at the clean-cut 
run of these same parts, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, with his 
broad fins placed at the point of greatest width to balance, 
guide, and aid him in turning or quickly rolling in the water. 
In Fig. 2 the dotted lines converge to the position of the 



170 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

eye, and show the visual angle. It is seen that a considera- 
ble space in front and a greater field behind is obscured. 
A boat is represented as crossing the corner of the flukes in 
act of going on to fasten. It is necessarily invisible to the 
whale, and remains so, until the stern is thrown around to 
bring the boat at a right angle with the whale (the position 
in which the harpoon is darted), and the order to back im- 
mediately given, so as to avoid the blow of the tail. The 
whale may now see the stern of the boat, but it is too late. 
The iron seldom fails to reach him, in spite of any movement 
he can make, except the most mysterious one of settling 
away, which will be described hereafter. In Fig. 1 the belly 
of the whale is shown, and the narrow under jaw, as closed 
into its close-fitting groove. The eye is just forward of the 
fins, which are a little beneath the greatest swell of the side, 
and almost on the belly. The two slits on either side of 
the genital organ represent the place of the dugs or teats, 
by which it nourishes its young. The anus is placed back of 
these. Fig. 2 also shows the back of the whale, and the 
square form of the forehead ; the position of the spout-hole, 
a little to the left of the centre ; the hump, and the smaller 
hump, which undulate the upper edge-line of the small, the 
position of the flukes, and a boat passing (a) within the vis- 
ual ray. Fig. 3 shows the general outline of the whale as it 
floats in the water; the lower jaw is dropped as in feeding, 
or in attacking a boat. The teeth and the sockets are exag- 
gerated in size necessarily. The dotted lines show the lines 
followed in dissection; a is the case; b the junk; d e the 
line of severing the head, the spiral line, and the line of the 
blanket-cuts. 

There have been lately published by Benjamin Russell, of 
New Bedford, two illustrations representing both the sperm 
and right whale-fishing, which gives an accurate idea of the 
general features of the business, both in the boats and on 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 171 

board the ship. The illustrations show the positions of the 
boats in the contest, and of the ships, and in cutting-in, etc. 
Mr. Russell himself was a boat-steerer ; and, guided by sev- 
eral years' experience, his artistic skill has embodied in the 
small space of two pictures the most correct idea of whaling 
which I have seen. 

The upper head of the sperm-whale is disproportionately 
large, being nearly one-third the length and nearly one-half 
the weight of the entire animal. The lower jaw, in its ex- 
ternal form, is cylindrical and narrow as compared with its 
length. It has from forty-seven to fifty-one teeth, there be- 
ing always when the jaw is uninjured one tooth more on 
one side than on the other. These teeth are conical in 
shape, curved and hollowed at base in the growing whale, 
but losing the hooked form and solidifying at the root in 
the middle-aged. In the old they become much worn and 
rounded at the end. In the old bull these teeth are often 
found broken and shattered by desperate contests. The 
lower jaw, when shut closely, fits into a deep groove in the 
upper jaw, the teeth fitting into sockets. The head is near- 
ly cylindrical where it joins the body, and just back of this 
point is the greatest girth of the body; from this forward 
the head flattens at the sides, and terminates in a forehead 
of a little less than the diameter of the body. The bot- 
tom of this ponderous head is under -cut somewhat as the 
stern or run of a ship. 

I am not a great naturalist, but I know what a whale is 
not. What a whale is not, you will see in the figure given 
by the learned professors of British science, Jameson and 
Murray, so late as 1831. In this an irate- monster is spout- 
ing in an impossible manner, and has a ckevaux-de-frise 
bristling on his back, to impale the unhappy mariner who 
is returning from a skyward flight in the shattered boat. 
How could the British Government expect that any bounty 



172 



NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 



or privilege could stimulate the whaling business while Fel- 
lows of the Royal Society and other savants were so fright- 
fully illustrating its perils ? And see the whale that cruised 
off Joppa to pick up such Jonahs as might be cast over- 
board, and was caught by the Harpers to illustrate their 
fine edition of the Family Bible. Such a representation 
has enough of the horrible in it to frighten every good little 




WHALE "BREACHING." 



boy from becoming a whaleman. I particularly object to 
the circular saw which serrates the awful chasm from which 
the repentant prophet is so summarily ejected. 

Jardin's whales, in his" Naturalist's Library," are more gay 
and festive. The good-natured spermaceti are buoyant and 
smiling on the surface of the sea, but nine tenths of their 
entire bulk are above the combing waves ; in fact, they ride 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 173 

the crested foam light as an eider-duck. His right whales, 
spry as salmon, make clean leaps in the air over the heads 
of admiring boats' crews, and he actually found a captain of 
the Royal Navy to swear to such playful practice on the part 
of these lithe and active creatures. In connection with this 
habit of breaching, Mr. Bennet, F.R.C.S., remarks, in his nar- 
rative of a whaling voyage: "A large party of cachalots 
gamboling on the surface of the sea is one of the most curi- 
ous and imposing spectacles a whaling-voyage affords; the 
huge size and uncouth agility of the monsters exhibiting a 
strange combination of the grand and ridiculous. On such 
occasions, it is not unusual to observe a whale of the largest 
size leap from the water with the activity of the salmon, dis- 
play the entire of its gigantic form suspended several feet 
in the air, and again plunge into the sea with a helpless and 
tremendous fall." 

And Mr. Beale, who gives by far the most correct draw- 
ing of the sperm-whale of any British author (yet incorrect 
in representing the small as very long and slender), also 
gives the figure of one descending head first, from a flight 
in the air*, the end of the head being ten feet, and the tail 
sixty or seventy feet up. Now I am not willing to say that 
these gentlemen did not see just what is represented. I can 
only offer the negative testimony that, of the many Amer- 
ican whaling-captains of greatest experience to whom the 
question has been put: "Did you ever see a whale thus 
leap clear of the water ?." the answer has been " No." — " Do 
you believe they possess the power ?" " No, excepting, per- 
haps, very young calves." From this I infer that such sights 
are seen from English ships, and are not seen from Amer- 
ican vessels. I can only account for the discrepancy from 
the fact that our ships often sail without rum, and run on 
cold water. I have no idea of the look of a whale seen 
through a six -glassed magnifiei*, each glass containing a 



174 NIMROD OF THE VEA; OB, 

lump of sugar, with a spoon to stir the steaming contents. 
One of our old salts swears that an additional tail appears 
on 'the whale for every glass of grog after the third. He 
remembers once to have seen a whale (see Appendix A) 
that had a perfect fog of tails, and jaws clean down to the 
hump. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 175 



CHAPTER XV. 

Enormous Supply of Blood in the Whale. — Sir John Hunter's Views. — 
Whales' Spouts. — The Life. — Spouting thick Blood, dies of Suffocation. 
— Flurry. — Fin out.— Telegraphing. — The "Glip," or Wake. — "Lob- 
tailing." — "Breaching" and "Sounding." — Turning Flukes. — Regular- 
ity in the Spouting, Time of Blowing, Submergence, and Speed of 
Whales discussed. — Description of Spout. — Errors of Naturalists on the 
Spout. — Skin of Whale. — Flesh and Blood. — Their Young. — Period of 
Gestation. — Whale's Office in the Millennium. — Age of Whales measured 
by the Teeth. — Sand-marks on the Teeth as affecting Question of Food. — 
Settling of Whales. — Size of Whales and their Proportions. — My Views 
indorsed by old Whalemen.— Jumper, and Captain Scott, R.N. — Captain 
Basil Hall's return from Dinner ashore, and what he saw. — Power of 
Whales to remain under Water at Will, and Captain West's Opinion. — 
Opinions of Captains Gardener, Covill, and West. — No Blood in the 
Whale's immense Case and Junk. — Queries suggested thereby on Cir- 
culation and Animal Heat. — Offices of the Oil glanced at. — Cold Cur- 
rents of the Pacific. — -Sperm-whales frequent these. — What Ledyard 
Brown did. 

The enormous quantity of blood which flows from a 
wounded and dying whale is a constant subject of obser- 
vation and remark. That the whales possess a quantity of 
blood proportionately greater than that of land animals is 
quite certain. The disposition and use of such a great store 
was first explained by the learned Sir John Hunter some- 
what as follows : To enable the whale to descend to great 
depths, and to remain under water for long periods, it be- 
comes necessary that it should have a supply of arterialized 
blood to maintain the circulation. To this end, in all the 
family there exists a reservoir, composed of congeries of 
great arteries, which become charged with arterialized blood 
during the time of breathing on the surface ; and it is sup- 



176 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OB, 

posed that, after the blood in the general circulation is viti- 
ated by the prolonged sounding, the pure blood in this res- 
ervoir comes in play, and maintains the circulation until the 
whale again rises to the surface. Such is my remembrance 
of Hunter's views, and I believe they are accepted by later 
observers. The sperm-whale is required to descend to great 
depths to obtain its food, so tbe period of submergence is 
more prolonged than in any of the other species; conse- 
quently, it is supposed to be furnished with a reserved force 
in a greatly increased quantity of blood. The sperm-whale 
is also distinguished at a great distance by the number of 
its spouts. Fifty, sixty, and seventy spouts are not unusual ; 
in fact, we pretend to mark the size of the whale by the 
number of spouts, allowing a barrel of oil for every blow 
made. Were it not for the prolonged rising, man would be 
unable to approach a sperm-whale with a boat, such is their 
roving disposition, and the distances traversed under water. 
The blood reservoir, lying under the spine and in the 
vicinity of the lungs, constitutes what whalemen term the 
" life " of the whale. This is described as packed with ar- 
teries of great size, coiled in the greatest complexity, and 
containing in their folds an unknown volume of the vital 
fluid. This . is the spot sought for with the keen lance. 
When rudely invaded, the bloody torrent pouring from the 
folds surcharges the lungs, and is expelled through the blow- 
hole. Suffocation becomes inevitable; all the air-passages are 
choked, and death follows, sometimes in a very few minutes 
after the blow is given. -At other times, when the wound is 
not so deep, the dying beast will spout hogsheads of thick 
gore, and his agonies may be prolonged for a considerable 
period. The creature will lie on the surface, feebly propel- 
ling itself onward, and, with quick, repeated sobs, will pour 
out its blood, coloring the surrounding sea for a great dis- 
tance. From this stupor it arouses to the last struggle. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 177 

The head rises and falls, and the flukes strike the surface in 
rapid succession. With great force it will rapidly swim in 
a large circle, sometimes passing two or three times around, 
and then closing the circuit by rolling on its side, dead. 
This is termed the " flurry," and the ending of the tragedy 
is "fin out." We never witnessed the death of a sperm- 
whale that was not immediately preceded by the "flurry," 
and such, I believe, is the general experience of whalemen. 

I have a mass of additional testimony about the prolonged 
submergence of whales. The offshore ground of the Pacific 
is of limited extent, and during the season is often crowded 
with ships, not unfrequently two, three, or four being seen 
in a single day. This affords opportunity for the frequent 
comparison of notes. Now it is a noticeable fact that at 
certain periods, say at the full of the moon, whales abound 
all over the ground, and many are then taken. This busy 
season will be followed by a period of two weeks or more 
during which no whales are visible over the entire ground. 
Ships will be spoken from all points of the compass, and to 
the question, " Have you seen whales ?" the answer will be, 
" Not for a week or ten days." The busy and dull seasons 
for whaling prevail uniformly over the entire feeding-ground, 
comprising an area of about six hundred miles north and 
south, by about nine hundred miles east and west. From 
his long experience in the " offshore " fishery, Captain West 
declares his belief that the sperm-whale can stay under water 
for two weeks. Captain Covill, while not agreeing to this 
theory, admits that off French Rock, New Zealand, the great 
bull whales appear as though they might have been reposing 
on muddy bottom. So stained and rough are they that they 
seem almost mossy; and not unfrequently the lower jaw 
will be fringed with the tubular barnacle, such as is found 
attached to floating timber at sea. He has seen at least a 
peck measure of these shell-fish fringing the jaw of an old 

8* 



178 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OJi, 

bull sperm-whale. These are never observed, so far as I 
know, on the jaw of whales on other feeding-grounds; nor 
can I imagine that the shell could maintain its position on 
a member which is in such active employment during the 
feeding or fighting season. 

In connection with this theory, I will submit certain facts 
which may have a bearing upon it. The sperm-whale is fur- 
nished with an immense receptacle of oil in the head pecul- 
iar to this species, and quite as remarkable as the vast arte- 
ries in which the excess of circulating blood is stored, as de- 
scribed by Sir John Hunter. At page 85 is a description of 
the proportions and formation of the junk and case of the 
sperm-whale; but at that point I neglected to consider a 
striking peculiarity, i. e., the absence of blood in this immense 
structure. That the reader may be impressed as I was by 
this anomalous feature, I will recall the proportions of the 
mass under consideration. The case and junk of the largest 
spermaceti may attain a length of twenty-five feet, a depth of 
eleven, and a breadth of nine feet, or twelve hundred cubic 
feet ; weight about sixty thousand pounds. Now in this ani- 
mal matter there is not an artery or vein, or a single drop 
of blood. We find nothing which varies the peculiar color 
of the pale yellow oily portions, nor do we find evidences of 
any tubular structure, save the great breathing-pipe. Yet 
the animal heat is as great throuo-hout the entire head as 
though the circulation of blood was perfect. How can we 
account for this ? Is it true, as modern science asserts, that 
the soluble portions of food in the stomach are taken up in 
the blood, and, by means of its circulation — laden as it is with 
the products of digestion, the skin, the flesh, and every oth- 
er part of the body — draws from it that which it wants? 
" The action of each of these organs, the performance of 
their various duties, involve in their operations a continued 
absorption of the matters necessary for their support from 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 179 

the blood, and a constant formation of waste products, which 
are returned to the blood, and conveyed by it to the lungs 
and the kidneys," etc., etc. Thus the blood is regarded as 
the common carrier of the animal economy, and the arteries 
and veins are the canals through which this strange com- 
merce is carried on. I would ask, How can this hypothesis 
be applied to the case before us, in which such an enormous 
and most elaborate structure conducts the building and 
wasting processes twenty-five feet distance from the pres- 
ence of blood, and in the absence of any visible tubes for the 
conduct of matter in form other than blood, from the stom- 
ach to the distant junk and case? And by what means is 
the temperature maintained uniform with the rest of the 
body, which is shown to be more highly charged with blood 
than the land animals ? 

The uses to the animal of this great reservoir of oil in the 
case, and of oily matter throughout the head, is entirely un- 
known. Most writers have been content to accept the hy- 
pothesis that the formation acts as a buoy to lift the nostril 
above the water, it being assumed that the light oily matter 
preponderates in the head. But the fact is, the head is much 
less buoyant than the body, owing to the great proportion 
of dense and heavy " white horse ;" and while the whale it- 
self, when dead, floats on its side, the head turns, the spout- 
hole down and the bony jaw upward, showing that the part 
containing the sack of oil is the heaviest, and unfitted to 
support the spout-hole above the water. May there not be 
a connection between this reservoir of fatty matter and the 
supposed power of the whale to sustain life for a prolonged 
period beneath the surface of the sea? May not the vital 
flame find sustenance from it during the whale's hibernation ? 
You smile at the thought of hibernation in tropical seas. 
But the presence of cold currents flowing from the poles 
toward the equator have been demonstrated, and it is quite 



180 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

possible for the sperm-whale to descend to such depths 
within the limits of the great polar streams as to lie sus- 
pended in a temperature authorizing the term of hiberna- 
tion. According to the observations of the United States 
Exploring Expedition, the water in the neighborhood of 
Cape Horn at four hundred fathoms fell to a temperature 
of 28° Fahrenheit, and they traced a powerful current of 
this cold water setting north, along the west coast of South 
America, until it reached the Galapagos, at which point the 
temperature of the water is so low as to prevent the forma- 
tion of coral on the reefs and in the bays. These currents 
are supposed to waft the squid and other food of the sperm- 
whale from the frigid zones, and in them the whalemen look 
for their prey. Whales, in soundings, have carried out six 
hundred fathoms of line, and at such depths they would 
surely meet the icy influences of polar seas. 

Sperm-whales have a means of communicating with each 
other at long distances — how long has never been deter- 
mined ; but certainly at distances as great as are command- 
ed by the eye from the mast-head of a ship, or a radius of 
six or seven miles. The means are a mystery, but every 
whaleman has observed the fact, and has based his opera- 
tions in the chase upon it. It has been suggested that, as 
water is so good a conductor of sound, it may be by sound ; 
but the distances are too great for any sound which the 
whale is capable of making to penetrate; and it is ob- 
served that the telegraph is perfect as ever in high winds, 
when a thousand waves are breaking. Dart an iron into a 
bull whale, or gallie him by going on his eye, and almost 
simultaneously with his cutting flukes in the air the whole 
school will show alarm by running and cutting their flukes, 
or by disappearing from the surface, and coming up miles 
to windward and running head out. If it be a cow that is 
struck, the bulls are arrested in flight, and are apt to gather 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 181 

about her, and offer chances for more than a single whale. 
Again, when a school of cows and calves are running fright- 
ened to windward, and a calf be struck, the whole school 
will "bring to," and gather closely around the wounded 
young, sometimes so closely packed that the inclosed boat 
will not dare to use the lance ; and they will thus remain as 
long as the calf is alive, or the iron holds. But should the 
iron draw or the calf die, the whole school will instantly 
scatter. Whaling - captains have taken pains to observe 
from the mast-head, when a boat was going on to a whale 
to leeward, the effect on schools miles to windward ; and as 
soon as the eye could turn from one spot to the other, the 
alarm of the struck whale to leeward was communicated to 
those to windward. The fact, as I stated, is within the ex- 
perience of all, although the manner of communication is 
not even guessed at by the oldest and wisest of our 
whalemen. 

Another peculiarity of the whale is the "glip." When 
the sperm-whale is alarmed, or on the alert against pursuit, 
on going down for a run beneath the surface it emits a por- 
tion of oil, or its equivalent, which for a considerable period 
of time causes a smooth, bright surface on the water. This 
is termed the glip, or wake. The mystery of the glip is in 
a real or supposed communication between this smooth spot 
and the whale occasioning it. Should the boat-header in- 
cautiously pull his boat into this glip, or cross the line be- 
tween the retreating whale and his glip, the effect will be 
to gallie the animal ; and it, with all its relations and friends, 
will go tearing to windward, head and tail in the air. The 
unfortunate " greenie " who fired the train will be upbraided 
furiously by all hands and the cook. The tail, or, as it is 
universally known by our whalemen, the flukes, is the pro- 
peller of the huge mass. From its horizontal position and 
its vertical motion, it is admirably adapted, as I have said, 



182 NIMHOD OF THE SEA; OB, 

to throw the nose above the surface of the water for the 
purpose of breathing, out of the reach of the wash of the sea. 
I am unable to give you the anatomical detail of the wonder- 
ful propeller, but can bear testimony to its beauty in curves, 
and its perfect mechanical form. It has a hardness .almost 
of iron, with elasticity greater than steel ; and urged by a 
thousand horse -power, it becomes the terror of the puny 
bipeds in their fragile boats. 

The only evidence we possess of whales signaling by sound 
is in the practice often observed of " lobtailing." In doing 
this, the whale places itself perpendicularly in the water, 
head downward, and, with its enormous tail in the air, it will 
swing from side to side, sweeping a radius of thirty feet with 
awful violence, the cannon-like concussions of which may be 
heard for many miles, while the sea is churned into a mound 
of snowy foam,. and the air is filled with, a cloud of spray. 
Our observation did not lead to the belief, however, that this 
deep tolling of the ocean-bell was intended as a tocsin, but 
rather as mere frisky play, inasmuch as. we could never no- 
tice that other whales paid any attention to the seeming 
signal. "Breaching" is common to all varieties of whales. 
The whale rises vertically from the water with such velocity 
that it will project about three-fourths of its length into the 
aii", and, falling on its sides, will create a great pile of white 
water. This may be seen from the mast-head eight or ten 
miles in the case of sperm-whales. 

When a sperm-whale " sounds," it first lifts the forward 
parts a few feet out of the water, giving a strong spout, and 
then dipping the nose, it rounds the back in a high arch, and 
revolves as on an axis. Rounding higher until the hump 
tops the arch, it lifts the flukes without any spray, and 
throws them aloft twenty-five feet, the next moment quietly 
disappearing in a perpendicular descent. In the act the sea 
is scarcely rippled, and the wake left scarcely exceeds the 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 183 

diameter of the body. When this performance is observed 
from the mast-head, it is announced by the cry of " There go 
flukes !" On our cruising-ground this is a certain indication 
of sperm-whale, as the finback does not turn flukes. The 
right whale is never found so far from shore and off sound- 
ings, and the humpback and sulphur-bottom whales are sel- 
dom seen on sperm-whale ground. The sperm-whale always 
descends in this manner when undisturbed by boats, wheth- 
er in the act of feeding or on its passages. Speaking of the 
speed of the sperm-whale, and the extreme regularity of its 
movements, George N. Covill, an old whaling captain of New 
Bedford, says that he has followed a sperm-whale in a free 
wind with the yards squared in, and every thing set that 
would draw, the ship making eight to ten knots, without 
gaining on it for twelve hours of light. During this time 
it never varied its time of staying down a single minute, nor 
the number of spouts, and it did not vary from a straight 
course by the fraction of a point. I have it from other cap- 
tains that, having ascertained the course and rate of speed 
of a whale in the afternoon's chase, they have followed on 
during the night, and raised him again on return of light. 
As a measure of speed, a boat of the St. Lawrence, Captain 
Edward M. Baker, fastened to a right whale that ran dead 
to leeward, towing the boat. The ship followed with a full 
top-sail breeze ; yet in four hours the following ship was lost 
to sight, although the day was entirely clear. Finally the 
line was cut, and the whale allowed to go without a lance in. 
When the sperm-whale first comes up, or when she blows 
with the nose a little submerged, as in rough weather, or 
whenever circumstances favor the entrance of a portion of 
water into the great respiratory, canal, the spout is plainly 
visible in the form of a dense white mist, lighter in color 
than the surrounding water, as seen from the mast-head of 
the ship, but darker, and cloud-like, against a clear horizon, 



184 NIMROD OF THE SEA ; OR, 

as seen from the boat or the deck of a vessel. When the 
whale is at rest in a calm sea, with the nose above water, the 
spout is invisible. Thus a ship may sometimes approach 
close to the whale without its being discovered from the 
mast-head, the exhibition of its flukes, as it sounds, being the 
first indication of it. 

The breathing-pipe of a large sperm-whale is thirty feet 
long, and twelve inches in diameter, and the misty cloud of 
its spout enlarges from this size to four or five feet at its 
widest part, passing along the surface of the sea some eight 
or ten feet. When this spout is thrown into the boat and 
strikes the sailors, which is not seldom, it feels like spray, in 
density proportionate to the depth of the nose at the time of 
blowing. There is but a slight sound attending prolonged 
respiration when the whale is at rest ; but when frightened, 
or running, the whale makes a rushing sound, sometimes 
like a snort. I am of opinion that the inspiration does not 
occupy one-tenth the time required in the expiration ; in- 
deed, it is instantaneous in the running whale ; yet the short- 
er process is silent, and the longer noisy. How to account 
for this? Naturalists are greatly divided regarding the spout 
of the whales, and have exhausted ingenious theories to show 
that the spout is less an act of breathing than a means of get- 
ting rid of the superfluous water which enters the mouth with 
the food. " This water," they inform us, " is, by a most in- 
genious contrivance, forced into the nasal cavities while the 
animal performs the act of swallowing ; then the forcible 
contraction of the muscles surrounding the passage sends it 
out in a jet." Scholarly men contrive industriously for na- 
ture, and poets sing, 

"While spouting whales, projecting watery columns, 
That turned to arches at their height, and seemed 
The skeletons of crystal palaces 
Built on the blue expanse." 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 185 

But no whaleman has witnessed a jet of water coming from 
the spout-hole of a whale — the very blood which clogs the 
lungs after the death-thrust is blown into the air as a fiery 
spray or mist. The nostril of the sperm-whale is a single 
opening on the extreme end of the nose, and the breathing- 
pipe passes the whole length of the case, parallel with the 
great oil-sack, and through the base of the skull, into the 
lungs, the length perhaps reaching thirty-two feet. 

The skin of the whale is not naked, as is generally sup- 
posed ; for beneath the external pellicle, or varnish, termed 
black skin, is a curdy deposit, which the day after the death 
of the animal is easily scraped away, and reveals a close fur 
about one-eighth of an inch long. This envelops the entire 
external surface, and is rooted in the true skin, or blubber. 
The flesh is a dark red, very firm, and of the texture of rope- 
yarns — tough as forecastle beef; not toothsome, but fit for 
food in a squeeze. The blood in heat reaches 104° Fahrenheit. 

The whales in general bring forth their young alive, 
and suckle them by means of two abdominal mamma?. 
They are gregarious in habit, and occur in large schools, 
except the old males, which are often found alone. Their 
ordinary rate of travel is about five miles ah hour ; but 
this the sperm-whale can increase to ten and twelve miles, 
and in a short race perhaps more. The period of gesta- 
tion in the right whale seems pretty well established at 
about nine or ten months, and we may suppose the same of 
the sperm-whale ; yet every thing pertaining to this part of 
natural history of this whale must remain a mystery to us. 
The young have been taken from dead mothers, and ob- 
servers represent them to be fourteen feet long. The milk 
of the whale is white, fat, and thick. How long the young 
remain with the mother is unknown, but it is observed that 
the herd seem to have a watchful care over them until they 
attain a considerable size. 



186 NIMEOD OF THE SEA; OR, 

Bold guessers allow the young twenty or twenty -five 
years to grow, and it is supposed whales live to a great age. 
In the old whale the teeth are blunt. In old bulls the teeth 
are sometimes worn down almost even with the jaw. Now 
consider. that these teeth (especially those of the cow, which 
is not supposed to fight) have only to encounter the soft 
substance of the squid, and conceive the age necessary to 
wear down this hard ivory. Let us consider the signs en- 
graved on the surface. When we regard the position of 
the eye of the sperm-whale, and its comparatively limited 
range of vision, and that the creature is without a hand to 
grasp and convey its food to an extremely narrow mouth, 
and then consider the activity of the fishes by which the 
whale is surrounded, we might naturally conclude that it 
could enjoy but a precarious existence at best. As we are 
led to inquire into the special provision made- for the suste- 
nance of an animal so huge, and yet so helpless, we are struck 
at once with the simplicity of one of the means by which it 
is enabled to entrap its prey. It is known that the squids 
or sepia, about which our readers have heard so many yarns 
already, are attracted by, and attach themselves to, a white 
or shining object. Fishermen take advantage of this by 
lowering hooked tin or other lures to attract and capture 
them. The jaw of the sperm-whale, the inner side of the 
mouth, and the tongue are of a silvery whiteness, and, some 
observers assert, are provided with a luminous or phospho- 
rescent quality which is irresistible to the sepia, in the gloom 
of its home, the dark color of the whale's body being invisi- 
ble in the deep water. Doubtless the smaller sepia such as 
we find abundantly in the stomach of the black-fish, are thus 
taken by the sperm-whale. 

The great size of the deep-sea squid is within the whale's 
means of attack, and furnishes a rich feast. Remains of 
sharks and other large fishes are also disgorged by the 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 187 

wounded whales, however, especially in and about the In- 
dian Ocean. But besides .these recognized sources of sub- 
. sistence, I am led to believe that they feed partly on other 
substances, for, on examining the worn surfaces of the 
whale's tooth, it will be observed that the ivory is marked 
with scratches, as though made with a coarse rasp. These 
are seen crossing the point in vai'ious directions, and oblique- 
ly down the sides of the tooth to the gum, showing that the 
tooth comes in frequent contact with matters harder than 
its own substance, and of minute and angular forms, such as 
corals, crushed shells, or sand. None of these things have been 
observed in the whale's stomach, however. I mention this 
unnoticed feature, that the future naturalist may take it into 
account in making up his chapter on the food of the whale. 

The " settling " of the whale is so remarkable as to require 
a notice also. It is often a means of safety when the ordi- 
nary motions of diving or running are insufficient. From a 
position of entire'rest, floating at length on the surface, and 
spouting at leisure, the whale has a power of sinking bodily 
with great rapidity, without altering its horizontal position, 
and without a motion of the tail or fins. As far as a person 
in the boat can determine, it often resorts to this means of 
escape when a boat comes suddenly within the range of 
vision, and so close at hand that the whale dare not round 
out to sound. I have seen the sperm-whale at rest sudden- 
ly seem a mass of lead, and sink from the head of the boat 
so rapidly that the harpoon was darted, but not delivered. 
Many whales escape thus ; and" nothing can exceed the mor- 
tification the occurrence causes the boat-steerer. He hauls 
in the still straight iron, and can scarcely credit his senses. 

The sperm-whale attains a very great size. The measure 
of a whale, in whaling parlance, is indicated by the number 
of barrels of oil it will make. Ask any old whaling-captain 
of forty years' experience, how long is the longest sperm- 
whale, and he will strive to answer the question by estima- 



188 NIMBOD OF THE SEA; OB, 

ting the known proportions of his ship. " Let me see. From, 
just forrard of fore -swifter to 4 the main -swifter, well, say 
forty -five feet, and you have his eye ; allow one-third for the. 
head, and you have seventy-two. Well, now, seventy-two 
feet is a long whale; but I never measured one." The 
largest whale we took made one hundred and seven barrels. 
Its length was 79 feet; from the nose to the bunch of the 
neck, 26 feet; thence to the hump, 29 feet; from hump to 
tail, 17 feet; length of tail, 7 feet; breadth of tail, 16 feet 
6 inches; height at forehead, 11 feet; width, 9 feet 6 inch- 
es; girt at fin, 41 feet 6 inches; at junction of tail, 7 feet 9 
inches; lower jaw, 16 feet long, and 41 inches in circum- 
ference at thick part. It had 51 teeth, the heaviest weigh- 
ing 25 ounces. Blubber on back, 18 inches; on side, 12 
to 15 inches; and belly, 9 to 10 inches. The hump was 
two feet above the level. The case made 19 barrels; body, 
73|- barrels; junk, 14-§- barrels. Captain Sullivan, of the 
James Arnold, of New Bedford, off New Zealand, took 
in one voyage eight whales that made over 100 barrels 
each, the largest yielding 137 barrels. The head of this 
made 52 barrels, and the case baled 27 barrels. It was 
90 feet long; the flukes 18 feet, jaw 18 feet, case 22 feet, 
and forehead 13^ feet high. During the same season and 
on the same ground, Captain Vincent, ship Oneida, of New 
Bedford, took ten sperm-whales, which stowed 1140 barrels. 
Captain Norton, ship Monka, of New Bedford, took on the 
offshore ground a sperm-whale that stowed 145 barrels; 
the dimensions of this monster were not taken. The pro- 
portions of whales vary much with the sex and age. The 
young bulls and the cows are slender; the cows are about 
one-third the size of the bull, when measured by the oil they 
yield. Such is about the sum, embodied in rough and des- 
ultory notes, of what I saw and learned of the sperm-whale. 
I have striven to avoid guessing, and to note that which 
came to my simple, untrained senses. Most of these obser- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 189 

vations have met the approval of men of great experience; 
and if they should take a single thorn from the path of some 
future Lesson in his researches, it will not be in vain I have 
written. 

In the waters of Japan there is sometimes seen a fish 
which, from its great size, is often supposed to be a whale. 
We know it by the name of the " juniper," from its habit of 
leaping entirely clear of the water, and falling with a great 
splash, like the sturgeon. So far as I can learn, nothing 
more is known of its form or habits than may be observed 
in its flying leaps. It appears to be of a slender make, and 
about as long as a ten -barrel sperm-whale. It does not 
come to the surface to breathe, but seems to inhabit the 
deep. We saw several during a few days. The crew all 

thought them to be whales, until Captain B informed 

us to the contrary. It may be this fish that Captain 1ST. 
Scott, R.N., gives an account of in " Wood's Natural His- 
tory." He says that he "has seen the whale spring to such 
a height out of water that the horizon could be seen under 
it, although the spectators were standing on the deck of a 
man-of-war. The whale was about three miles away from 
the ship when observed." I would ask what captain in the 
Royal Navy could distinguish this monster fish from the 
whale three miles away ? 

Once upon a time, under the. shaded porch of the inn at 
Bridgehampton, Long Island, kept by John Hull, an old 
whaler, and a trustworthy boat-steerer, I heard Ledyard 
Brown, another boat - steerer, claim to have thrown his iron 
into a sperm-whale when it was bodily in the air above the 
level of his head. He steered Captain Rose, of Sag Harbor, 
and he is the only American I have met who claims to have 
seen a whale bodily in the air. Ledyard is brave, steady, 
and truthful, and I can only suppose that in the moment of 
striking a fighting whale he became a little bewildered with 
flukes, jaws, gleaming ivory, and roaring cataracts. 



190 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Loss of Ship Union by a Whale. — Captain G 's Experience with a 

Sperm-whale. — Whaling favorable to Longevity. — Monument in Sag 
Harbor to six young Captains proves the Contrary. — Loss of a whole 
Boat's Crew. — Captain Henry Huntting and his good Fortune. — Captain 
James Huntting carried down by a Whale, and cutting Line. — One of 
his Crew recovered from the Line, and improvised Surgery. — Two Men 
killed by the Line. 

Heee I resume my neglected journal : Eight bells. Star- 
board watch ou deck. A half-moon silvers the gentle, rip- 
pling sea. The ship rolls easily to the long swell, steadied by 
the reefed top-sails. One dozing fellow is at the wheel to 
keep the ship's head to the wind, and the remainder of the 
watch are gathered on the forehatch, calling upon Posey for 
a story of men famous in the ocean hunt. " Tell us of old 
Captain Gardiner, and his loss of the Union" we asked. 

" You never saw that grand old man, did you ? You 
should have that story from his own lips to appreciate it, 
but I will do my best. When twenty-two years of age, he 
sailed captain of the Union, of Nantucket, it being his first 
voyage as master. Twelve days out from Nantucket, the 
forward watch were alarmed at night by seeing a sperm- 
whale coming head on to the ship, which had such headway 
that the blow could not be avoided. In another moment 
the whale struck the ship a tremendous blow fair on the 
bow, which brought every body from their berths to the 
deck. It was apparent that the bows were stove in, and 
the ship was rapidly filling. Three boats were lowered, 
and a stock of water and provisions hastily placed in them. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 191 

Soon after the ship rolled over, and went down, leaving the 
crew adrift in mid-ocean in the fragile whale-boats, the 
nearest land being the Azores, distant about seven hundred 
miles. This was a trying situation for our young captain; 
but he was equal to it. Considering the danger of separa- 
tion increased by his having the crew divided in three 
boats, he concluded to take all hands and the supplies into 
two, and abandon the third. Thus crowded, after eight 
days of perilous navigation and much suffering, he reached 
the Azores, without the loss of a man. His prudence and 
good conduct under such trying circumstances secured to 
him another ship as soon as he reached home. After this 
he sailed master for twenty years, and in all that long ex- 
perience never had a man killed in his boat." 

" Do you mean to tell us that he never met with any acci- 
dents after this first taste of the quality of old square-nose ?" 
we demanded. 

" No, he couldn't say that ; for he is now a crippled man, 
eighty-eight years of age, but so hale and hearty that he will 
read manuscript without glasses. Once a sperm-whale threw 
its terrible jaw into his boat, and struck him on the head 
and shoulders, making a deep scalp-wound, breaking his jaw- 
bone, tearing out five teeth, breaking his shoulder-blade and 
arm, and crushing his left hand between the tooth and gun- 
wale of the boat. .When this broken man was carried on 
board, his young mates, hopeless of his recovery, were at 
loss what to do for him. He had to give directions for the 
preparation of the necessary splints and bandages, and in- 
struct the men in the manner of reducing the fractures and 
bandaging them. After this, he ordered them into a port 
to which they were strangers, and, lying on deck at the 
point of death, he scanned the headlands, and piloted his 
ship into port. A Spanish surgeon visited him, and, after 
examination, advised him to send for a priest, for he was be- 



192 NIMH OS OF THE SEA; OR, 

yond surgical aid. But this advice didn't chime in with his 
Yankee idea that where there is life there is hope, and he sent 
a messenger into the interior, some thirty miles, for a Ger- 
man physician. The good Samaritan hastened down to the 
coast, dressed the captain's wounds, and giving him restora- 
tives, brought him to bear transportation on an ambulance 
slung between two mules, away from the unhealthy coast to 
a healthy mountain home. Here in six. months the old man 
recovered sufficiently to resume command of his ship, which 
in the mean time had made a successful cruise on the off- 
shore ground. His left hand had healed into an unsightly 
stump, with the two forefingers so contracted on the palm 
that, when he afterward went in the boat, it was necessary 
to wear a thick mitten to prevent the lance-warp from catch- 
ing under them. But the hand was still good to direct the 
lance to the life of many a good whale. 

" Such was the effect produced on his mind by this terri- 
ble encounter with the whale, that it became a favorite be- 
lief with the brave, good old man that he was a monument 
of God's loving mercy, ' living on borrowed time ;' and his ex- 
perience of a protecting Providence, as especially extended 
to those engaged in whaling, led him to remark that ' some- 
how men were wonderfully preserved who stuck close to the 
business.' In any other occupation he would say, 'A crew 
of thirty-two men could not go out fortyreight months with- 
out some loss before the end, but he had seen them go safe 
in whaling, voyage after voyage. He told me of a family of 
five brothers in Nantucket, all masters of whalers, now liv- 
ing at an average age of eighty-two years." 

Hinton's rich mellow voice struck in here : 

"The winds they blew a hurricane, the sea was mountains rollin', 
When Barny Buntlin turned his quid, and said to Billy Bowlin' : 
'A strong sow-wester's blowing, Billy ; don't you hear it roar now ? 
How I pity all unhappy folks as lives upon the shore now ! ' " 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 193 

Hinton (recitative :) " Old Captain Gardiner is one of the 
lucky ones ; he has doubled the Cape of Good Hope for this 
life, with only one real squall tha't made him reef pretty close 
for a spell ; but he has dipped up from the sea'a pretty for- 
tune, and he can, in his old days, sing with me : 

" ' In the downhill of life when I find I'm declining, 
May my fate no less fortunate be, 
Than a snug elbow-chair will afford for reclining, 
And a cot that o'erhangs the wide sea.' 

" But, boys, I can tell you a different story from that which 
you have just heard," Hinton continued. "Away, away 
around the dark stormy cape, and up in the north, lies the 
quiet, shaded cemetery of Sag Harbor. Under the shelter 
of overarching elms is a beautiful marble monument, a bro- 
ken ship's mast, around whose foot is coiled a broken and 
unstranded hawser. On the base is this inscription : 

"'to commemorate that noble enterprise, 
THE WHALE-FISHERY ; 

AND A TRIBUTE OF LASTING RESPECT 
TO THOSE BOLD AND ENTERPRISING SHIP-MASTERS, 

SONS OP SOUTHAMPTON, 

WHO PERILED THEIR LIVES IN A DARING PROFESSION, 

AND PERISHED IN ACTUAL ENCOUNTER 

WITH THE MONSTERS OF THE DEEP. 



ENTOMBED IN THE OCEAN, THEY LIVE IN OUR MEMORY. 



And six young heroes are named on another face of the 
base : 

Charles W. Payne, Captain of the ship Fanny, aged 30, killed in 183S. 

Stkatton H. Harlow, " " " 

Alfred G. Glover, " " " 

Richard S. Topping, " " " 

William H. Pierbon, " " " 

John E. Howell, " " " 



Daniel Webster, ' 


2T, " 


" 1838. 


Acasta, ' 


29, " 


" 1S36. 


Thorn, ' 


29, " 


" 1S3S. 


America, ' 


30, " 


" 1S46. 


France, ' 


2S, " 


" 1840. 



194 NIMBOB OF THE SEA; OB, 

And this records only part of the loss. Young Topping, of 
the Thorn, had his boat stove by. the whale. He got into 
the mate's boat, and returned to the attack. Not one of 
that crew came out of the encounter alive. Captain, mate, 
and five men perished, just how no one witnessed; and none 
survived to tell the sad tale. This is a marble record that 
in ten years from this one port six masters perished, the 
oldest being thirty years. For them I could sing," Hinton 
went on, 

" ' Keep thy red gold and gems, thou stormy grave! 
Give back the true and brave ; 
Give back the lost and lovely! those for whom 
The place was kept at board and hearth so long !' 

" That is a black picture, Hinton," said Posey ; " though I 
can't help holding, with the good Gardiner, that there's a 
' sweet little cherub that sits up aloft, and looks out for 
the fate of poor Jack.' There is Captain Henry Huntting, 
a son of Southampton too, who ran the gauntlet, boy and 
man, boat-steerer, mate, and captain, and never had a man 
killed in his boat, and excepting one ugly knock on the knee 
from a Avhale's flukes, was never hurt in his long experience. 
And there's his brother, Captain Jim. If there ever was a 
man to believe that whalemen are wonderfully preserved, he 
is the man. Did any of you ever see Captain James Hunt- 
ting? No? Then just figure to yourselves a young giant, 
seventy-eight inches in his stocking-feet, two hundred and 
fifty pounds in weight, and not an ounce of fat to cut his 
wind — proportions of Hercules, and the face of man. 

"When he was a boat-steerer, a sperm-whale stove his 
boat, and rolled it over on him. He came up under it all 
tangled in the line that was coiled in the stern-sheets of the 
boat. He fought like a giant to throw off the deadly coil. 
It was about his body, his arms, and his neck. It was for 
dear life that he was working, and he knew the odds were 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 195 

against him. He got rid of the line, as he thought, and had 
got a breath of the blessed air and a glance at God's sun- 
light, when he was jerked out of the sight of his horrified 
shipmates. A bight of the line, yet attached to the sound- 
ing whale, was around his ankle,- and he bid good-bye to 
this world as he was plunging into the deep sea. Yet he 
was alert to take instant advantage of a slack in the speed 
of the whale. Drawing himself forwai'd by the line, with 
his sheath-knife he severed the cord beyond the entangled 
foot, and rose to the surface, exhausted by the time he had 
been under and the lacerating wounds inflicted by the tight- 
strained line. The boats picked him uj). No one on board 
knew any more of surgery than he did. So, with help from 
willing but unskilled hands, the broken ankle was patched 
up after a fashion, and kind Nature healed it, with the bones 
unshipped and out of place, leaving him nearly as good a 
man as he was before his awful plunge. 

" Another instance of wonderful preservation from a cru- 
el death by the line occurred in his experience many years 
after this, and goes to show how the whaleman is educated 
to perform, and inured to suffer in the stern vicissitudes 
of the chase. By some mishap the line kinked in the boat, 
and a man was caught and jerked from the boat by the 
running whale. After being drawn with frightful speed 
some one hundred and twenty-five fathoms from the boat, 
he was released by his limbs giving way to the strain. 
Thus freed, and almost unconscious, he rose to the surface 
and was picked up and carried on board the ship. On ex- 
amination, it was found that a portion of the hand, includ- 
ing four fingers, had been torn away, and the foot sawed 
through at the ankle, leaving only the great tendon and the 
heel suspended to the lacerated stump. From the knee 
downward the muscular flesh had been rasped away by the 
line, leaving the protruding bone enveloped in a tangled 



196 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OS, 

mat of tendons and bleeding arteries. Saved from drown- 
ing, the man seemed likely to meet a more cruel death, un- 
less some one had the nerve to perform the necessary ampu- 
tation. At that time the New Bedford ships were the only 
ones that carried surgical instruments to meet such a case. 
But Captain Jim was not the man to allow any one to per- 
ish on slight provocation. He had his carving-knife, car- 
penter's saw, and a fish-hook. The injury was so frightful, 
and the poor fellow's groans and cries so touching, that sev- 
eral of the crew fainted in their endeavors to aid the cap- 
tain in the operation, and others sickened and turned away 
from the sight. Unaided, the captain then lashed his scream- 
ing patient on the carpenter's bench, amputated the leg, and 
dressed the hand as best he could. Then, running to the 
Sandwich Islands, he placed the sailor in the hospital, where 
he recovered, returning to the United States, and for many 
years supporting himself by a little shop, and 'living on 
borrowed time,' ' another living monument of God's mercy,' 

as Captain Gardiner 
would say. In my 
opinion, Captain Jim 
suffered the most in 
that operation, be- 
cause he couldn't 
scream to let off his 
feelings. 

" See the portrait 
of my hero in the 
prime of life ; see the 
same man at forty- 
six years of age, still 
hale and hearty, erect 
and powerful, with 
the rosy complexion 




A NIMKOD OF T11E SEA. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. tfl 

of youth. There is not much change, considering the ter- 
rible wear and tear on as splendid a physique as ever trod 
deck on whaleboat. Chapters of story or song could not 
enlarge on the history recorded in the snowy hair and aged 
face of the second portrait. 

" On another occasion," Posey resumed, " a- sperm-whale 
stove one of the boats of his ship, and two men were lost. 
After the whale was killed, the men on the ship proceeded to 
haul in the line of the broken boat, when the two missing 
men were found entangled in several turns, and mangled al- 
most out of the form of humanity by the action of the line 
and the swift towing through the water. Judge ye of the 
effect on the surviving crew, as one after the other of these 
poor wrecks were towed up from the grave in which they 
had been so suddenly and deeply buried." 

" This is growing too serious, boys," cried Hinton ; and he 
piped up : 

" ' What argufies pride and ambition ? 
Soon or late death will take us in tow ; 
Each bullet has got its commission, 
And when our time's come we must go.' 

" Now strike eight bells, call the larboard watch, turn in, 
and dream of spermaceti." 

Sept. 14. With the lofty land of Albemarle, Galapagos, in 
sight, we were spoken by the Science, of Portland, Captain 
Whippie, eighteen months out, four hundred barrels. We 
hailed ten months, and four hundred and fifty barrels. Such 
are the items of interest to two whalers as they cross each 
other's path on the fishing-ground. An "All well" ends the 
interview, and with a sweep of the trumpet the order is giv- 
en, " Brace forward mainyard." So we part strangers, as 
we met. 



?8 NIMH OD OF THE SEA; OR, 



CHAPTER XVII. 

A Quarrel, and Knife drawn. — Portuguese flogged, and Reflections thereon. 
— Sunday on Board, and Library. — Religion on Board. — Pythagoras on 
Board. — The Providence for Sailors. — Books in Demand, and Kind. — 
Chips and his Journal. — Chips in the Battle of Plattsburg. — His Views 
of the Sabbath. — Right-whale Porpoise taken. — Five hours' Chase un- 
successful. — Another Chase successful. — Rock of Dunda mistaken for a 
Ship. — Fishing off Abington Island. — Second Visit to Cocos Island. — 
Hector, of New Bedford. — Hunt for wild Hogs. — Beautiful Parrot-fish. 
— Growths in the Bay, and Sea-porcupine. — Boat lost. 

Sept. 16. A quarrel between two of the men resulted in 
Antonio, a Portuguese, drawing a knife on his shipmate. 
The weapon was knocked from his hand, 

" With a God d — , those syllables intense! 
Nucleus of England's native eloquence." 

A regular breeze was the consequence. The second mate 
reported the row to the supreme authority, and the fiery- 
Antonio was summoned to the quarter-deck to answer. His 
offense was serious ; it was shown that he meant mischief, 
and we could not seriously demur when we saw him lashed 
to the weather main-rigging, and his yellow back exposed to 
the rope's-end. But, however much we condemned Antonio's 
act, when we saw and heard the rope's-end cut the writhing 
flesh, and heard the man's moaning supplication to " Santa 
Marie" and "Jesu Christo," we forgot it. Very serious 
thoughts occupied my mind as I looked on the cruel scene ; 
and for the first time in the voyage the life became horrible 
and hateful to me. The sentiment of obedience to authority 
must be instinctive in human hearts, or how could a few ofii- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 191 

cers hold men in thrall to such humiliation ? It is not a 
mere question of the power. The distinction of the quarter- 
deck and the forecastle disappear at such a moment, and offi- 
cer and sailor face the occasion as men governed by one law. 
Sept. 20 {Sunday). According to rules, we abstain from 
all labor on Sunday, save the necessary handling of the ship 
and the pursuit of whales, if any are seen ; and of course we 
keep the try-works going, should we have blubber on board. 
In these warm, calm, and bright latitudes we spend the day 
very quietly; a few men write or draw; some scr im shone, or 
carve keepsakes for friends from bone of the whale's jaw, the 
ivory of the teeth, or the rich woods and mother-of-pearl 
found on the islands ; some read ; and some sleep. We have 
on board a scant ship's library of uninteresting religious 
books, provided by some Seaman's Friend Society with kind- 
ly intent, and an inexhaustible store of tracts entirely too 
childish for men famishing for intellectual food. We turn 
unsatisfied from these dying experiences of some good souls 
as they descend to the dark stream of death, as we live ha- 
bitually so close to the brink of the sombre river that we 
are not impressed by them. Pardon me for speaking plainly, 
but the picture of our life would be incomplete if I withheld 
expression of the thoughts of the forecastle on such subjects. 
The comments of the men on these tracts, if heard by the 
givers, would not encourage their distribution. Seamen see 
so little difference between the partial and capricious Deity 
pictured by the dyspeptic fancies of presumptuous writers 
and their own officers, that they mix up in a disrespectful 
jumble captain, gods, and mates. Half mutinously they an- 
swer "Ay, ay, sir," alike to the order to " scrape top-masts " 
from the one, and " Stand by to keep the Sabbath-day holy " 
from the other. Now I pray you, good hearts who really 
wish to elevate these rough children of the sea, not to jump 
to the conclusion that my shipmates reject all religion. I 



19Q NIMROD OF THE SEA; OB, 

read to them to-day the following words, ascribed to the old 
heathen Pythagoras, and they listened understanding^ to 
his teaching : 

"The Divine mind and universal spirit that pervades and diffuseth itself 
over all nature. 

"All things receive their life from Him. There is but One only God, 
Not seated above the world, and beyond the orb of the universe ; 
But being himself all in all, he sees all things that fill his immensity. 

"The only principle, the light of heaven, the Father of all, 
He produces every thing ; he orders and disposes every thing ; 
He is the reason, the life, and the motive of all things." 

And this reading seemed to satisfy their sense of the re- 
lation between themselves and their Author. They may not 
have known, but I think they felt, that the power of this 
Deity found expression in the beautiful and wonderful works 
among which we live. 

Poor Jack ! he has few ports or havens of rest and safety 
provided for him I He meets with little kindness or consid- 
eration at the hands of his superiors; he feels that he is ex- 
posed to danger on the sea, and more deadly perils on shore. 
No one extends the helpful hand. All he hopes is that there 
is a better future in store for him. Dibdin's " Sweet little 
cherub " becomes a hymn of faith, and he believes in it as 
a gospel. If you would reach him, show that this Provi- 
dence is not only aloft, but that it cares for him on earth ; 
that it planted the succulent cactus, and created the Avater- 
bearing terrapin on the scoria of the Galapagos, that man 
might not perish. Teach him that where rains are not, the 
great God provides the dew-imbibing pitcher-plant and the 
refreshing melon, that man might know his goodness ; that 
it is he who places the oil-bearing nuts and animals to feed 
the lamp of life in the frigid zones, and the cooling acids 
and sugary fruits to quench fevers in the torrid heats; that 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 



201 







A LAND SUAKK. 



the fur -bearing animals, the resinous woods, and the vast 
coalfields are his provision against the rigors of one; and 
the broad umbrella foliage and dense growths his screens 
against the blistering sun in the other. Show to these chil- 
dren that their Father so loves them that he has surely pro- 
vided for all their needs. 

I am quite sure that the landsman's idea of the sailor 



20.2 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR; 

would be modified could they have witnessed scenes in our 
forecastle in the calm nights on our cruising-ground, when 
the watch gathered about the windlass or main-hatch. Un- 
der the starry sky hard, worn faces were upturned, as a 
young comrade recited the stories, stranger than fiction, 
about science. Let me say that a copy of St. Pierre's " Stud- 
ies of Nature" was to us a book of religion; two old vol- 
umes of the "New England Farmer" were a popular fund 
of instruction; works on natural history, especially those 
illustrated, were in great demand ; so wore " Delano's Voy- 
ages," and all works, not forgetting the Bible, which shed 
positive light on the path of life. The biographies of strong, 
self-made men had a great attraction, and the best novels 
were appreciated. Such works as these should fill seamen's 
libraries. 

At 1 p.m. we raised a large breach to leeward, and we ran 
off for it; but as we came up the tall spout revealed the 
finback. We then resumed our course south-west, with a 
stiff breeze, and at sundown shortened sail and stood on 
the wind. 

Sept. 23. The last two days the " C was ruf," as old Chips, 
the carpenter, has it. He is the only one on board besides 
myself who keeps a journal, and he is writing for the amuse- 
ment of his " old woman." He says she delights in the beau- 
ties of his spelling and language, and he swears that my 
way lacks originality, as I always spell the same words the 
same way, while he never spells it twice alike. Chips is a 
remnant of the last war, having been in the very early part 
of the battle of Plattsburg, but he retired soon after firing 
commenced, badly wounded — in his feelings. He had his 
trained eye placed on the back-sight of a battery gun, aim- 
ing at one of the British ships, when a shot from another 
struck somewhere on the breech of his gun, within, he says, 
" an inch of my nose, and, you see, the crash sounded as if 



THE AMEBIC AN WHALEMAN. 203 

the heavens and earth were coming together ; and when I 
come to and got the infernal hum out of my ears I was settin' 
on a bench in a cabin at the foot of one of the Adirondack^, 
about thirty-five mile back of Plattsburg, and they told me 
the fight was over, and we had licked the Britishers. I 
jumped right on end and hooraed for dear life, for I know'd 
we could lick 'em." 

Chips has a habit on Sunday mornings of combing his hair 
and mounting a pair of green spectacles, so as to distinguish 
the Sabbath from other days, and he would not give a " con- 
tinental cuss," as he expresses it, for the chances of a man 
who holds that the maintop-sail is white on this day. Bar- 
ring these weaknesses, Chips is a good workman, and can re- 
pair a chawed boat neatly and expeditiously. 

During this rough Aveather we have had many porpoises 
under the bows. One of the boat-steerers standing on the 
martingale pitched the porpoise -iron into one, and with 
much noise and confusion it was hauled on deck. It was a 
beautiful right whale porpoise, distinguished by a broad 
stripe of pure white running from the tip of the snout to 
the end of its flukes, and contrasting perfectly with the pol- 
ished jet of the rest of its body. We stripped the thin blub- 
ber from the body, and let the cook try it out for the fore- 
castle lamp, thus saving two gallons of sperm-oil. From the 
body we took some dark meat which, with onions, made a 
savory fry. This was the beef that Major Williams prom- 
ised lis, granting that we might eat all we could catch. It 
is a frequent dish, for we neglect no chance to banish salt- 
beef from our table by the capture of this beautiful little 
whale. The lower jaw is closely set with polished, curved, 
and sharp teeth, which make no bad substitute for a comb, 
having the necessary strength to sti'aighten unkempt locks, 
and to bring away such tangles as gather in a week's repose. 
In the base, or pan, of the lower jaw is a marrowy fat, which 



204 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OB, 

yields a thin limpid oil, in great request by watch-makers, 
gunsmiths, etc., and we neglect no opportunity to collect it. 
A good jaw will yield several ounces, by exposing the fat to 
the full heat of the sun. 

At meridian I got out my almost forgotten quadrant, and 
made an attempt at " shooting the sun " (as taking the sun's 
altitude is termed) with my complicated instrument. I took 
a pretty good aim, and brought down a latitude the first 
shot, and made our position to be 4° 54' S., quite proud that 
I had kept south of the equator in a first attempt. Soon af- 
ter eight bells, the song came, " There she blows, blows ! 
hump all out. Sperm-whale close aboard on the lee beam I" 
Four boats were lowered at once, and we pulled our best 
stroke by spells for five long hours, with never a chance to 
dart. Mournfully we skulked back to the ship, tired, wet, 
and crusty enough to cover a sea-pie. The whales were in 
great numbers, and unusually large for school-whales, being 
estimated at eighty-barrelers. 

/Sept. 27 {Sunday). The wind has been high for the past 
two days ; and to-day, while running under single-reefed fore 
and main top-sails, we raised a sj)erm-wkale on the lee bow. 

We lowered two boats, and Mr. F went on; but the 

whale settled, and avoided the darted iron. After a two 
hours' chase to windward against a heavy combing sea, 
which kept the afteroarsman bailing, our boat gave up the 
chase, and we pulled for the ship. Our boat was scarcely 
on the cranes, when the man at the mast-head shouted out 
that the mate's boat was fast. Before we could reach the 
scene, the whale was spouting thick blood, and now a seven- 
ty-barrel whale is floating alongside, and we are laying head- 
yards aback, with a considerable sea running. Lat. 5° 40', 
long. 107° 37' W. 

Nov. 4. This morning we raised Albemarle Island, and 
soon after the singular volcanic Rondonda, or Rock of Dun- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 205 

da. This formation rises to a considerable height, almost 
perpendicularly, from the water's edge. Blue water beats 
against it. At a distance it resembles a huge tower, iso- 
lated by many miles from other islands. Tradition hath it 
that it is sometimes mistaken for a ship, and that a tipsy 
skipper once ran under its stern, and hailed : " Whence, and 
whither bound ?" and the rock-bound coast echoed, " whith- 
er bound?" Now we squared away for Cocos Island, to 
take in water. 

The following morning we ran close under Abington Isl- 
and, and sent in two boats to obtain a mess of fish. An- 
choring in five fathoms' water, we found an abundance of a 
fish called the grouper, some of which might weigh thirty 
pounds. A number of the curious and unsuspecting rela- 
tives would often follow a captured fish to the surface, and 
were killed with a sharpened waif-pole. We took nearly a 
ton weight of this fine fish. The sport was much enjoyed 
by all, as was the cookery of the " Doctor " when we return- 
ed on board. We now are on our course for Cocos Island. 

Nov. 6. Twelve months from New London ! We have 
six hundred and fifty barrels of oil, and ought not to com- 
plain, considering our erratic course, and the work of many 
ships we have heard from. 

Nov. 9. Second year. Carne to anchor in the harbor of 
Cocos Island, and stowed two hundred barrels of water. 
In the afternoon the Hector, of New Bedford, Captain Nor- 
ton, ten months out, six hundred barrels of oil, anchored 
beside us, also to water. 

Nov. 11. Finished watering last night. All hands had 
liberty on shore. A party started on a hunt for wild hogs. 
The weather was less wet than on our previous visit. Men 
on the beach reported a gleam of sunshine, a notable fact in 
this pluvius spot. After a scrambling chase, a tall, bristling 
boar was pulled down. He showed fight with his ugly 



206 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

tusks, but a blow with the heavy seal -club brought him to 
earth. Being in for a joyous time, we worked up material 
to the best advantage, and decorated ourselves with vines, 
the flowers of air-plants, and passion-vine. Then, with our 
prize slung over a pole, we marched to the beach, chorusing, 

" Though it rains, it hails, it snows, it blows, 
Yet this day a boar must die. " 

We came in jolly and thirsty, and infinitely more steady 
than the barons of old from their royal boar-hunts. In our 
hog we found material for a sea-pie. The rock bearing our 
ship's name was almost buried in the sand, and all hands 
united in rolling it up out of the reach of the waves. A soli- 
tary grave was pointed Out as being that of a poor fellow 
who was drowned in attempting to swim ashore and desert 
to this land of continuous shower-baths. With slender, 
barbed spears we took several varieties of the beautiful par- 
rot-fish, which abound in the coral groves in the bottom of 
the bay. These fishes are of beautiful metallic colors — red, 
green, and purple, finely contrasted in belts and spots, and 
in blending clouds. The head, plated in an armor of broad, 
thick scales of the greatest brilliancy, is fitted for brows- 
ing on the zoophytes which dwell in the sharp cells of the 
branching corals and madrepores. In these growths, and 
amidst the waving tangle of many- colored marine plants, 
these fish, with multitudes of other strange and beautiful 
creatures, are seen in great numbers. From caves great 
cray-fish protrude their fringed heads and azure feelers; and 
the loathsome toad-fish creeps from bunch to bunch of the 
grasses. Flapping over the tops of the marine forest we 
also see the brown devil-fish, and the echinus, or sea-eggs. 
Tempted to reach for some sea-flowers, and wading the shal- 
low, I touched a sea-egg with my bare foot, and ran to the 
shore in agony. The thing is like a porcupine, and the sole 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 207 

of my foot was penetrated by its black spines, which broke 
off short, leaving many points envenomed and rankling in 
the wounds, each like the fiery sting of a hornet. My pleas- 
ure for the day was destroyed. We strove in vain to re- 
move the shelly barbs, but they would only come away in 
little disks. A piece of salt-pork rind was applied to draw 
the poison, and after some hours the pain subsided, but 
each puncture became surrounded with a dark blue ring. 
The captain took two boats and pulled to the windward side 
to get cocoa-nuts, which there abound. In the evening his 
party returned, the two crews in a single boat. The other 
boat was caught in the surf in landing, and dashed on the 
rocks. The crew escaped to the shore, and walked some 
distance to a point, when they were taken in the other boat. 
The double crew loaded the boat so deeply that they could 
not bring nuts in the face of an ugly chopping sea. 



208 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Race with the Hector. — Alternate Success. — Our final Triumph. — Bone- 
shark. — Anchored at Charles Island. — No Water, no Woman, and took 
to Fishing. — Elmira, Captain Marchant, and Preparations for a Fandan- 
go. — Governor Villamill comes on Board, and Captain gives all Hands a 
Drink by Proxy. — Details on Defense, and how the Yankees did it. — 
Hunt a Bull. — Hunted in Turn. — Bull killed, and a Row. — The Ship to 
he taken. — The Kow settled. — Story of the Lava Cave. 

JVov. 12. Got under way, in company with the Hector, on 
a race, as agreed upon. Both captains prided themselves on 
the sailing qualities of their ships, and determined to test 
them. At sundown we were ahead about five miles, having 
a stiff breeze, under top-gallant sails, and running sharp on a 
wind. We were more than surprised at daylight the next 
morning to find the Hector full eight miles ahead of us on 
the weather-bow. She was under top-sails. We had furled 
top -gallant sails during the night. We immediately set 
maintop-gallant sail, but in twenty minutes it blew out of 
the bolt-ropes, and we then stood along under top-sails after 
our saucy antagonist. We trimmed our yards, and only the 
best men went to the helm. As we were a little down by 
the head, we brought from the forehatch ten casks of water, 
and rolled them aft. After this the ship steered better, and 
we gradually overhauled the chase, and at sunset were up 
with her, about a quarter mile to leeward. The wind having 
moderated, we set fore and main top-gallant sails and flying- 
jib, and in the morning watch got on the royals. At day- 
light, " Hurra for the Chelsea " from the watch brought all 
hands on deck, and we found the Hector ten miles on the 
lee quarter. We continued dropping her, until the setting 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 209 

sun showed her from the mast-head nearly top-sails down. 
We then shortened sail, and she came up with us during the 
night. The next day we ran side by side, and interchanged 
boats' crews through the entire day. At evening we parted 
with our pleasant company, and sighted the carcass of a 
whale stripped of its blubber. 

JSTov. 16. A large bone-shark was seen alongside the ship. 
He was near the surface, and we judged his size to be about 
thirty feet in length, although we could not make out his 
form accurately. We wished to lower a boat and attempt 
capture with the harpoon, but the captain said that as the 
shark was a gilled fish, and would not rise to the surface to 
allow a chance for the lance, and was far too powerful to be 
restrained in its running, it would be useless. This fish is 
believed by sailors to have a mouth furnished with bone, like 
the right whale, though much shorter ; hence the name of 
bone-shark ; and if seamen's accounts be true, the creature 
is unknown to naturalists. 

JVov. 23. Seeing no whales in the vicinity of Cocos, we 
squared away before a light breeze, and ran for Charles Isl- 
and, Galapagos. At 2 p.m. to-day we came to anchor in nine 
fathoms' water in an open roadstead, affording good holding- 
ground. This is the nearest safe anchorage to the landing- 
place of a small colony of Peruvianos, seven miles distant. 
The colony is established about three miles inland, near the 
only fresh water found on the entire group. In front of our 
anchorage is a beach of sand, and the low ground back of it 
is pretty well clothed with low bushes, while on the hills the 
cactus is seen, and a few trees. Throwing our lines over the 
side, we took enough fish for supper, and, by-the-bye, fish- 
ing about these islands affords constant surprises. Each fish 
one catches is odder in shape, and different in size and color 
from its predecessor. The varieties are so great that they 
seem inexhaustible. 



210 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

JVov. 24. The object of ouv visit is not apparent to us, but 
we are not curious. We take the good the gods provide 
without question, and, with the careless improvidence of the 
sailor, " eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow " we may- 
die. If it suits the captain and the owners that the good 
ship should ride at anchor in Charles Island, well and good, 
provided we have liberty on shore to stretch our sea-legs,, 
and time to bury them under the warm sand of the beaches, 
to draw the treacherous scurvy taint from the bones and 
tissues — assuming that sailors have tissues. Thus far we 
have had liberty on shore, opposite the ship, every other 
day, while the watch on duty has been transporting to the 
ship a few barrels of sweet-potatoes and pumpkins from the 
distant settlement. We have had our longest vacation on a 
small island where there is not even drink to intoxicate the 
brain, or a woman to stir the heart : 

" Some eyes they are so holy, 

They seem but given, they seem but given, 
As splendid beacons solely, 

To lead to heaven, to lead to heaven. 

"While others — men believe them — 

With tempting ray, with tempting ray, 
Would lead us, heaven forgive them ! 
The other way, the other way." 

We are here safe from the sirens, holy or otherwise, 
heavenward-bound or otherward ; and we roam at large 
under conditions which made the Garden of Eden intolera- 
ble to the first gentleman of his time. We philosophically 
take to fishing, and industriously add to previously known 
varieties, without waiting to classify, but roasting and eating 
our varied catch. 

A little Yankee fishing-smack with its " live well " would 
make a fortune in supplying the coast markets with fish 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 211 

from these islands. In the evening the JEJlmira, of Edkin- 
ton, Captain Marchant, twenty -four months out, fourteen 
hundred barrels of oil, dropped anchor close beside us. We 
pulled on board, and gave them a store of fresh fish of vary- 
ing sizes, forms, and colors, and for the same they had vali- 
ant stomachs. The evening we spent on board the stranger, 
with song and yarn, music and dancing, until ten p.m., when, 
at peace with all men, we bunked and slept. 

JVov. 27. The Yankee and the Spaniard having exhausted 
each other's resources in trade, the courtesies of the vikings 
were then extended to the ruler of the land which held our 
anchor. We " snugged up " the ship, screened the unsightly 
try-works with shrubbery from shore, and dressed her with 
all the red, white, and blue which we had and could borrow. 
Every thing was made gay and festive to welcome Governor' 
Villamill and lady, with a party of grandees, who had ac- 
cepted our invitation. At 2 p.m. the dignitaries of the shore, 
and the captain, officers, and most of the crew of the Elmira, 
came on board. The sefior was accompanied by Senora 
Villamill, a pretty, pleasant-faced woman, strikingly in con- 
trast with her husband. They and their party came in two 
whale-boats manned with crews of ragged convicts — this 
being a penal settlement. These latter beauties were not 
permitted to come on board, lest they might appropriate 
the spare anchor or the good name of some of the crew. 

Jollity was the order of the day. Captain B ■ warmed 

up for the occasion, and determined to give his crew a regu- 
lar blow-out for once at least. He ordered the steward to 
bring up his comfortable case -bottle of Santa Cruz, and, 
pouring out a stiff horn, sent it forward with an order for 
music to the " Doctor," who sat atop a cask tuning his vio- 
lin. The benign old darkey imbibed ; the drop was alone 
needed to bring the fiddle to tune, and in lively measure 
he struck up our favorite jig, the " Chelsea's Crew," a com- 



212 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

position of his own. The captain considered all hands as 
treated, by proxy, in that single glass of rum, and we thank- 
ed him for his thoughtfuluess. He allowed the Spanish 

dons to fire their blood, and Captain M to soak himself 

with the remainder of the square bottle. Fortunately we 
were inured to temperance, and heartily took to dancing. 
Seiior and don, Pedro and Emanuelo, danced fandango and 
cachucha, and Jack took kindly to the reel, breakdown, and 
hornpipe. A chowder interrupted the " light fantastic," etc., 
and our crowded deck was soon turned into a banquet-hall. 
After the dinner dancing was resumed until midnight, when 
we sought comfort in old rye — straw. 

JVov. 29 (Sunday). Starboard watch on shore. A mis- 
chievous freak of part of our watch nearly led to serious 
results, and the adventure is worth a place in the journal. 
I am aware that such details may prove wearisome to the 
President and his secretaries when they seek history in my 
journal, and I suspect that others might prefer a disquisi- 
tion on the igneous play which enabled these islands to 
hold their heads above water. But I put to you, gentle 
reader: How are you to realize the adventurous life of 
the boys who have completely mastered the proud situa- 
tion of the American whaleman, if I suppress our mischief 
and fun ? How could you understand the race, which has 
proved an overmatch for one of the most matchless races 
the world has known, the boys who met John Bull on his fa- 
vorite tramping-ground, the sea, and in "fir-built frigates" 
and hulking whale-ship backed him square down? How 
could you realize how the hollow-chested Yankees drove 
from the seven hundred and fifty million square miles of 
Pacific hunting-ground, the bluff, hearty Britons, if I did 
not give the points which show the character, good and 
bad, of the fellows who did it? I do not think it could be 
done. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 213 

The party on shore were intent on the pursuit of seals, 
but we soon marked the tracks of cattle in the sand, and so 
far away from the settlement that we held the animals le- 
gitimate objects of the chase; so we started on the trail. 
After a short search we found a young bull, hidden in a 
thicket of mangroves. He was so wild that he seemed a 
foeman worthy of our clubs. After some threatening dem- 
onstrations, he started on the run for the interior. As ill 
luck, my. length of leg, or training on the hills of Pennsyl- 
vania would have it, I outran my shipmates, and soon the 
bull and I had the fun to ourselves. Suddenly he turned, 
and stood for a moment measuring his foe. He then low- 
ered his horns and made for me. I at once appreciated the 
change of the situation, and the difference between a fright- 
ened bull's tail receding and a mad bull's horns advancing. 
The game was now changed, and I ordered a retreat, but 
found that he was too fast for me. I was at bay, and a 
well-directed blow of the iron-clad seal-club brought him to 
his knees. He soon recovered, and with an ugly bellow 
came at me twice, and twice more I baffled him. It now 
occurred to me that yelling for helj) was in order, and this 
soon brought my companions to the scene of action. They 
overmastered my antagonist, and he lay panting on his back, 
with his horns tucked well under the neck and stuck deep- 
ly in the soil, a prisoner. A council of war was held. The 
majority were reasonable, and voted to report him to the 
Spaniards, to whom he would be valuable. But a few of 
the men secretly resolved to have fresh-beef supplies, and 
they followed the released bull to the beach, where they kill- 
ed him, foolishly, in the sight of the Elmira. Some Span- 
iards on board that ship reported at once to Captain B , 

who, much angered, pulled ashore and brought beef and 
butchers on board. 

Although late in the day, the captain proceeded at once 



214 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OB, 

to town to settle the unfortunate affair with Governor Vil- 
lamill. The senor was exceeding wroth at the misadvent- 
ure, and Spanish-like magnified the offense to an attack on 
his dignity, etc., etc., demanding the immediate surrender of 

the offenders. This, of course, Captain B peremptorily 

refused. The senor replied, " I will send thirty-five soldiers, 
and take them from the ship." The captain informed him 
that several times that force would be necessary for the job. 

The governor then threatened to hold Captain B until 

he surrendered the men, and to this the captain replied : 

" Senor, let us cease bantering. My men did very wrong 
in killing the bull, and I am sorry for it. I will pay you 
seventy-five dollars in cash, or one hundred in black-fish oil, 
Ave keeping the beef. As for detaining me, I have provided 
for that. My boat has returned on board, and if I am not 
on the landing to meet it on its return, the second mate will 
be here to look into the cause. We can count on the Elmi- 
ra, and, my dear governor, there will be a sure row, if sixty 
Yankees get a loose foot in this town of yours." 

On such representations the worthy man accepted the sev- 
enty-five dollars and pocketed the affront. Thus happily 
ended this tempest in a tea-pot. I may remark that Mr. 

F got the ship in a very pretty state of defense, on the 

captain's prudent hint. Captain Marchant offered aid if it 
came to blows. I have an idea that the town was in peril 
last night ; but the captain's return made all smooth again. 

Posey and myself, with a very intelligent young fellow 
named Carson, belonging to the JElmira, proceeded back 
from the beach to examine the lava bubbles, which are oc- 
casionally found in these islands. Their name indicates their 
formation. They sometimes are so thin as to form treach- 
erous footing to the incautious traveler. Whenever we met 
the rounded outline indicating a bubble, we tested its safety 
with a heavy stone, even though it was not directly in our 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 215 

path. Sometimes the roof would fall in with clinking sounds, 
revealing a deep, dark cavern. Having thus broken into one 
cell of considerable size, which proved easy of entrance, we 
crawled in for shelter from the intense heat of the sun's rays. 
Our conversation, naturally directed by the strange surround- 
ing, led Carson into the narrative of an adventure in a lava 
tunnel and cave which made a deep impression on my imag- 
ination. I will strive to tell his story, preserving rather the 
spirit than the language. The exhibition, as he described 
.it, is seen in a small way, in the crystallizations of sulphur 
and cooling metals, and in the dark tubes of certain optical 
instruments. 

"In a sharp, deep valley of Albemarle we had broken in 
the roof of such a bubble ; but the cavern was much deeper 
than this, and as we looked in we saw that we had opened 
the way into a tunnel about fifteen feet in width, and extend- 
ing either way as far as we could see from our position. 
By the light which entered from above we made out the floor 
as about twenty feet beneath us, and that the walls were cu- 
riously marked with columnar forms. Brown, my compan- 
ion, who had dabbled in the sciences, proposed that we should 
take an under-ground view of volcanic action and appear- 
ances. 

" So, on the following day, provided with a couple of 
lamps, a coil of knotted line, and a couple of waist-lines and 
iron poles for staves, we proceeded on our exploration. We 
descended with the knotted rope around our bodies, and 
stuck our feet in the rough side, lighted in our way by a 
single lamp. We carefully watched for any side openings 
which might confuse us or lead us astray in returning, but 
we saw none, and felt safe. It soon became evident that the 
tunnel had not been formed by a rent of the mass after cool- 
ing, but rather by the molten lava's having drained away, 
after a crust had formed upon it. This may account for the 



216 NUIIWD OF THE SEA; OR, 

singular and beautiful formations by which we found our- 
selves surrounded. After' proceeding some distance through 
a passage with a pretty uniform width of from fifteen to 
twenty feet, and about an equal height, we paused to exam- 
ine the formation of the cavern. The dim light of our lamps 
illuminated the pilastered walls, and a roof raftered and groin- 
ed with straight and curved beams of crystalline structure, 
many feet in length. Some of these were of a reddish ap- 
pearance, and others had a vitreous lustre, resembling im- 
mense crystals, in places broken into the semblance of foli- 
age, which reflected an olive-green light. The gloomy splen- 
dor of this solemn architecture was relieved by the gold or 
amber reflections of crystals of sulphur, which, like mari- 
gold or sunflower, gleamed in the arches of the passage. 

" The broad bases of the pilasters were enriched with 
counterfeits of fern, palms, and growths intricate and del- 
icate as the pencilings of the frost - spirit's pictures. But 
these metallic pictures, under the limning of the fire-fiend, 
had been inlaid with the brilliant facets of igneous minerals 
green and brown in tint. Tempted onward by the increas- 
ing beauty of the scene, our lamp revealed new objects of in- 
terest in the increasing lustre of the arched ceiling and the 
carved and painted walls. Our lamp was multiplied by the 
sparkle from the faces of unknown minerals. In places the 
passage was divided by central columns of basalt crystals, 
which terminated in curves, and were in form and tracery 
varied beyond man's power. The rude Goth for his cathe- 
dral, the Moslem for his mosque, the Celestial for his pago- 
da, might have drawn inspiration from this solemn portal to 
Nature's vast workshop. 

"As we advanced farther into the recesses of the mount- 
ain, the character of the cave changed. The angular crys- 
talline forms which indicated the sudden withdrawal of the 
molten matter, or the deposit of elements sublimed by in- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 217 

tense heat, yielded to smooth and rounded structures, like 
the worn rocks of the river-side, giving the impression that 
the walls had served as a sluice to fiery torrents pouring 
from the volcano. A few steps farther showed us the sin- 
gular curtain-like foldings of a substance resembling lamp- 
black. Absolutely without lustre, and absorbent of every 
ray of light, it was present, as it were, only to the touch. 
With certain misgivings under this curtain of gloom, we 
entered a cavern, the form or extent of which could be 
known only by touch of hand, for no possible brilliancy of 
light would command an answering reflection from the ab- 
sorbent surface. Broken as was the surface to the touch, 
to the eye it was without form. The floor was invisible, 
and we were only guided in our steps by our staves. It was 
like stepping into primal chaos, before light and form had 
birth. A profound chasm seemed to yawn at our feet, yet 
the rocky floor rang to the blow of the staff; and with cau- 
tious tread we proceeded. The flame of the lamp met no re- 
sponsive glow, save from the two intruders, who stood awe- 
stricken in this strange emptiness : it stood, in the still black- 
ness unflickering, like a solid. Feeling the broken walls, the 
hand was met by an oily softness ; the eye was useless, and 
even the touch now failed to guide us. Solid walls were 
not to the eye; rocky barriers seemed simply impenetrable 
darkness to the hand. 

" From repeated contact with the sooty walls, we became 
covered also with this strange light-absorbing powder, until 
we were enveloped in an invisible mantle, and also passed 
from each other's sight. Eye alone answered to eye in their 
reflections of the light. Too deejfly impressed for conversa- 
tion, we stood still with outstretched hands. Brown asked 
at length, ' May it not be even so in the Valley of the Shadow 
of Death ?' And we looked for strength in each other's eyes, 
and linked our arms that we might have the companionship 

10 



218 iXniliOD OF THE SEA; OB, 

of touch. We were now thoroughly frightened, and turned 
to retrace our steps; but which way? We stood in a sea 
of nothingness — locked in the foundations of the mountain. 
The walls were lost to the sight, and were nothing to the 
touch. We stooped to the deep dust of the floor, and held 
the flame to read our foot-prints ; but this soil of carbon ab- 
sorbed the light, as the sand of the desert does the rain- 
drops. We reached forward, and the hand failed to meet 
the Avail; we reached downward, and there, too, was but 
empty space. The light failed to show the defining edge 
between the solid rock and the void. We swung the lamp 
over the brink on which we lay; it revealed nothing.' We 
dropped a heavy stone into the chasm, and listened for the 
rebound. No sound was returned as it sank into the pro- 
found. We cast another stone across to test the width, but 
this, too, was lost to the senses. Silently they passed away, 
as the mist-wreath on the hill-side. And then we knew we 
had been preserved from death. A careless step, and we 
had found a grave in the depths of the world's foundations. 
We realized that we were lying in trembling safety on the 
threshold of the extinct volcano, and lifting our useless eyes 
from the impenetrable blackness, the awful whisper ' Lost !' 
passed between us. We were afraid to move, but the wast- 
ing oil of our lamp warned us that time must not be lost. 
Presently our ears caught the beat of the surf on the rocks 
as the tide came in, and, following this direction, we final- 
ly reached the entrance, almost fainting from joy when we 
stood beyond this chamber of gloom. Once more we stood 
under the wondrous tracery and reflections of the outer gates 
of the inter- world of mysteries. 

" ' There is a dungeon, in whose dim, drear light — 
"What do I gaze upon ? Nothing. Look agcin ! 
Two forms are dimly shadowed on my sight, 
Two insulated shadows of the brain.'" 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 219 

Such is a weak version of Carson's story, and he added : 
" Since this adventure in dreams, I have hung suspended 
from, or slid helplessly down, that awful brink into that si- 
lent black space ; and when I have awakened in terror, I have 
realized again the nightmare which oppressed me during 
the moments I lay peering into the volcano." 



220 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Post-office of the Galapagos. — Senora Villamill's Monkey. — Farewell to 
the Galapagos. — An unfortunate and mutinous Ship.- — The wide Range 
of Whalemen. — Burke's Eulogy on American Whalemen. — The Mutiny. 
— Bingham's Row with Second Mate. — Council of War in Forecastle. — 
The difficult Decision. — Man tied up. — Hans returns Good for Evil, and 
strikes back, and Row generally. — The Captain slashes round. 

A curious feature of the Galapagos is the novel post-office, 
established there by Commodore Porter, during the last war 
with England, while the Essex harbored in the island which 
bears the name of her worthy captain. He placed a large 
terrapin shell on a conspicuous point of Black-lava Rock. As 
round and white as a huge skull, it is a prominent landmark 
to vessels coasting among the islands. The enormous shell 
forms the roof of the letter-box, and it is the custom of ships 
to send a boat ashore and overhaul the mail for any letters 
that may have been left there for them, and to deposit any 
letters they may have directed to ships long out which may 
touch at the islands. 

The evening before we sailed, Senora Villamill presented 
the captain with a monkey, and the governor sent on board a 
splendid red-hackled Spanish game-cock — whether as tokens 
of the estimation in which they held the good man or not, 
I can not say. The monkey was christened " Ichabod ;" the 
game-cock, " Commodore Porter." The Elmira got under 
way at the same time with us. Captain Marchant is one of 
Nature's noblemen, and consequently has a good crew, capa- 
ble of putting captain and ship through a tight place when 
needs be. May every success attend them ! 

Dec. 2. We have lost sight of the islands. Whether they 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 321 

are to be again visited is hidden from us, but very pleasant 
memories remain of them. May every poor sea-worn mar- 
iner, once in his life at least, enjoy, as I have done, a visit to 
these desolate but blessed islands. The wind is fresh, and 
we are dashing merrily on our course to the S.W. Our 
night watches are rendered pleasant by a brilliant moon, 
and the doctor's fiddle, with the dance and Hinton's tuneful 
voice, enliven the early watch. A light-hearted, happy race 
are old Ocean's sons, when they have half a chance. For 
some time now I have been blessed with a spirit of con- 
tentment, and have taken great satisfaction in merely living. 
I can say, with Izaak Walton, " Every misery I miss is a new 
mercy, so let us be of a thankful spirit." This spirit is in 
striking contrast with the spirit of unrest which spoiled 
greater external means of enjoyment in the tame safety of a 
Pennsylvania farm. 

Dec. 9. Two sails in sight. One of these we spoke. She 

was the A , of Hudson, Captain F , out twenty-five 

months, with but eight hundred barrels of oil. She has been 
most unfortunate. Her story is the old one of an unreason- 
able captain, and a stubborn crew. It has not been with 
them, as it must be for success — 

"A long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether, 
As sailors say at sea." 

But while the captain sailed his end of the ship, the crew 

anchored theirs ; and the A has but two or three of her 

original crew. The men were in a desperately mutinous 
condition when the anchor was dropped in Payta, and they 
refused even to furl the sails, as the crew represent the case. 
The consul came to the rescue with a number of Spanish 
soldiers (such poor creatures as put us in the guard-house !). 
Yankee blood was up, and seizing irons, lances, and hand- 
spikes, the sailors drove the Peruvianos pell-mell overboard. 



222 NIMROD OF THE SBA ; OR, 

The captain was badly wounded in the head, and had his 
arm broken. The foremast hands left the ship in a body, 
leaving the sails hanging in the brails. There being no 
man-of-war in port, the authorities of the place had not force 
sufficient to overcome the mutineers, as all the sailors in port, 
American and English, sided with the latter. A new crew 
was shipped, among them one of the men who ran away 
from us in Selango. Poor fellow, he had suffered much 
since he left us, being broken down by the coast fever, and 
the worse dissipations of Spanish sea -ports. He told us 
that the boat had been overhauled by the Peruvian armed 
vessel Congresso; that the boat had been appropriated, and. 
the entire crew pressed into the service. Bad food and 
brutal treatment prevailed, and all pay was denied them. 
They deserted as opportunity offered, and became scattered 
one from the other. What became of our old favorite, Eli- 
sha Chipman, he could not tell ; but he said, hopelessly, " I 
don't believe one of them can be alive to-day." 

Captain F , of the A , profited by his dearly-bought 

experience. The old-time customs of "hazing" and "work- 
ing up " have passed away, and his present crew, to a man, 
honor and respect him. All hands are working hard to re- 
trieve past hard fortune. 

Our approach to the " offshore ground " is apparent from 
the number of sail in sight almost every day — occasionally 
three or four are in view at- one time ; yet, how many other 
hunting-grounds are in like manner overcrowded by the ea- 
ger hunters of oil ! Besides the fleet now cruising on this 
ground, others scour the equatorial seas, away west among 
the coral islands, on the savage coast of New Zealand, and 
about the unfriendly shores of Van Diemen's Land and New 
Holland ; also on the coast of Chili ; ten thousand miles due 
west on the east coast of Africa; in the Channel of Mozam- 
bique ; away north-east on the shores of Alaska, and its oppo- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 



site, the Okhotsk Sea ; in the extreme polar regions ; far up 
in Behring Strait ; on the banks of Brazil ; across the whole 
South Atlantic, and about the waters of Japan ! Almost 
every sea is plowed by the keel of our whalers, and the glo- 
rious Stars and Stripes flutter in every gale. In the infan- 
cy of our national enterprise, Burke was inspired to eulogize 
the American whalers in terms so exalted that no more praise 
need be spoken. We can only quote his glowing language 
as applied to the early enterprise of our fathers. He said, 
in the British Parliament, in 1774 : 

"Look at the manner in which the New England people 
carry on the whale-fishery. While we follow them among 
the tumbling mountains of ice, and behold them penetrating 
into the deepest frozen recesses of Hudson Bay and Davis 
Strait; while we are looking for them beneath the Arctic 
circle, we hear that they have pierced into the opposite re- 
gion of polar cold ; that they are at the antipodes, and en- 
gaged under the frozen serpent of the south. Falkland Isl- 
and, which seemed too remote and too romantic an object 
for the grasp of national ambition, is but the stage and rest- 
ing-place for their victorious industry. Nor is the equinoc- 
tial heat more discouraging than the accumulated winter of 
both the Poles. We learn that while some of them draw 
the line or strike the harpoon on the coast of Africa, others 
run the longitude and pursue their gigantic game on the 
coast of Brazil." 

The imagination of this eloquent statesman was thus stir- 
red in contemplation of the short flights of our whalers in 
the well-known waters of the North and South Atlantic. 
Could he, were he alive to-day, with all his wealth of lan- 
guage, find words to express his admiration of the enter- 
prise which now grasps the waters of the world, and " runs 
the line and strikes the harpoon " under every latitude ? 
Since he spoke so eloquently we have advanced marvelously. 



224 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OB, 

Dec. 13 (Sunday). " Now is the winter of our discontent." 
For some time a grudge has been working between Mr. 

S and a stout green-hand, Bingham, Avho hails from 

Kentucky. Bingham has been worked up energetically at 
all unseasonable hours. When the ship was pitching her 
worst, poor Kentuck was ordered, slush - pot in hand, to 
grease down topmasts, and when the roll was added to the 
pitch he was ordered to wipe off said grease because it was 
too thick. The next rough spell, he was required to again 
grease the topmasts, much to the disgust of the cook, whose 
perquisite the " slush" is. Bingham must work, rust off the 
chain, and tar down inaccessible stays. In fact, an undue 
share of the most disagreeable duties of the ship fell to 
Bingham. He submitted with, perhaps, ill grace, and the 
grudge passed from bad to worse, until last night, in the 
middle watch, we who were below were aroused by Ken- 
tuck's coming down the forecastle scuttle on the run, follow- 
ed by the blacksmith's tongs, and a rasping blessing from 
his angry officer. Of course, such a storm brought us on 
end at once. Bingham was too much excited to post us as 
to the row, and he had not time to overhaul his log, for in a 
few minutes, in stormy quarter-deck slang, the captain or- 
dered the poor fellow on deck. He obeyed, and we indig- 
nantly heard the thwacks of some heavy thing on the per- 
son of our unfortunate shipmate, and his pleading that, "In- 
deed he had not been to blame, and that he acted only in 
self-defense." Good clean paper should never be soiled Avith 
the Billingsgate of a mad captain and a mate. In a few 
minutes the deck watch came below, and a council of war 
was held. 

We then learned that Mr. S came suddenly from abaft 

the try-works to Bingham, who Avas sitting on the end of 
the windlass. Catching the greenhorn by the collar, the 
mate charged him with sleeping in his Avatch on deck. This 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 225 

Bingham denied somewhat roughly, saying that he had just 
sat down. The men on the forehatch confirmed his state- 
ment, when the mate ordered them "to shut up, and not 
put their oar in this muss." Blows soon followed high 
words, and the mate assaulted the bulky Bingham with the 
tongs aforesaid, and chased him, with oath and blow, into the 
forecastle. And one deponent added : " In course there'll be 
the devil to pay. The officer of the deck has had his head 
punched, and been jammed down in the deck-pot. He didn't 
get satisfaction out of Bingham's head with old Blowhard's 
tongs, so of course there'll be a werry nice little muss." The 
case was before the court. 

"Jack was embarrassed — never hero more, 
And as he knew not what to say, he swore, 
Nor swore in vain : the long congenial sound 
Revived Ben Bunting from his pipe profound ; 
He drew it from his mouth, and looked full wise, 
But merely added to the oath ' his eyes ;' 
Thus rendering the imperfect phrase complete." 

The bow-oarsman got out his "Bowditch's Navigator," 
and opened it at the well-thumbed digest of the United 
States marine laws. The scene afforded a striking picture. 
In the confines of the ship's forecastle the foremast-hands 
were crowded. Some were lying in their bunks that the 
others might sit on the sea-chests. Old Tom, with wisdom 
written in every line of his aged face — a face profound as 
Jack Bunsby's — was sitting on a bread-kit, holding the flick- 
ering, smoky, forecastle lamp over the open book, to enable 
the improvised lawyer to find safe moorings. The men wait- 
ed silently for their sailing or fighting orders, as might be 
decided upon. The moment was trying to one who was yet 
fresh from the peaceful influences of that friendly sect which 
teaches " that ye resist not evil," and that " whosoever shall 
smite thee upon one cheek, turn to him the other also." It 

10* 



226 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

was with a troubled spirit that the young sailor turned the 
pages, not so much to read the words, which were graven on 
his memory through much study, as to impress on the good 
fellows about him the consequences of any error of judg- 
ment. The thought came distinctly to him: In resisting 
your officers, you break a law; if you resist with violence, it 
becomes mutiny ; and if violence is let loose, who may re- 
strain it? To succeed you become pirates, and stand out- 
side the pale of human protection. How can we, then, save 
Bingham from the lash (that of course was a settled thing) 
without getting the whole ship's crew into greater trouble ? 
Such was the burden of my great concern. To do this 
it must be made to appear that we restrain the captain 
within the law, and use only such force as may be needful 
to prevent his committing an illegal act of violence upon 
one of the men; and that, rendering cheerful obedience to 
lawful orders, we would resist unlawful assaults on our per- 
sons. " Well, my boy, what do you make of it ?" asked old 
Tom, as the boy closed the book and looked around the 
company. The men were very quiet ; not a word had been 
spoken ; and he read in the eyes of all a settled resolve to 
fight the thing to the bitter end, if need be. So he wasted 
no words, but replying to the question, said : 

"Mates, there is nothing in the law that authorizes the 
captain of a whale-ship to seize up and flog one of the crew. 
The lash is repealed on men-of-war, and is not permitted on 
whale-ships. He may iron, imprison, and carry an offender 
into port, to be tried for his offense ; that is all. And I be- 
lieve we may rightfully restrain the cajDtain from illegal vio- 
lence on our shipmate." 

"That's right law, and straight to the point," said Tom, 
enthusiastically. " And so far as in me lies, by the Lord 
above us ! a shipmate shall not be flogged." And a solemn 
amen ratified his resolution. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 227 

A general resolution was then arrived at : no unnecessary 
words, no altercation, no scolding were to be allowed in the 
men, and no laying on of hands or violence, save in the very 
last extremity of self-defense. One of the crew was appoint- 
ed spokesman, and all communications from the crew were 
to pass through him. This settled, we turned in to uneasy 
sleep, until the call of the watch brought all hands on deck. 

Then the crew gathered in the starboard waist. Before us 
stood Bingham, lashed by the upraised wrists to the main- 
shrouds, his shirt stripped off, and his white, unspotted, un- 
scarred Kentucky back bared to the eyes of his shipmates. 
His helpless look and pleading eye stirred all the manhood 
in our natures to stand by our resolution. He gathered 
something from the aspect of the crew which blew grit into 
his heart; his head went up, and a hope lit his eye. He 
looked away seaward, and left his case in safe hands. The 
captain also read the same signs as Bingham, and in a rough, 
excited tone ordered us " forward of the windlass." A few 
of the crew, from old habit, walked forward ; but the major- 
ity stood their ground. This was the first act of disobedi- 
ence, and greatly enraged the captain. He seized the end 
of the fore-brace and struck Hans, one of our men, to the 
deck. Hans was Dutch, of the New York kind, and the 
flatter you knocked him the higher rose his blood. He 
sprang up in an instant, and pitched into the captain's hair, 
tooth and toe-nail. Thus our peaceful programme was 
spoiled. 

The third mate, with the predisposition of Mexican blood 
to be in hot water, tackled Hans, and pulled him from the 
captain, who ran to the cabin, doubtless for arms. The 
third mate was having a good Spanish time of it, with Hans 
under his knee. One hand was busy tangling poor Dutchy's 
hair while the other was laying dark shades about his eyes. 
This was clearly opposed to our treaty, and an onslaught 



228 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

was made in Hans's favor which sent Mr. B below, 

whence he did not return. Mr. S , the cause of all the 

trouble, evidently saw that there was a rod in pickle for him 
if he came to close quarters, and very wisely he held the 
lee quarter-deck. Mr. F , with a terrribly pained ex- 
pression, was walking the weather-quarter, evidently having 
washed his hands of the affair. The four boat-steerers 
stood on the main - hatchway, neutrals. The frightened 
cook clattered his pans in the galley, about the door of 
which the war raged. The cooper and carpenter leaned 
over the larboard waist, looking into deep water. The men 
concluded that Bingham was safe for the time being, and 
as the captain doubtless would re-appear armed, it was best 
that further proceedings should be taken in our own quar- 
ters. We therefore walked forward of the windlass, and 
clustered on the roomy forecastle-deck. We had scarcely 
taken this vantage ground, when the captain, blind and blaz- 
ing with fury, came at us, with a heavy ivory-tipped club 
elevated over his head. The weapon fell, as it happened — 
for I am sure he did not see who he struck — on the head of 
a little boy named Sam, from Philadelphia, and the child fell 
senseless to the deck, the blood flowing profusely from an 
ugly scalp-wound. Before the madman could again strike, 
the club was wrested from his hand and thrown overboard. 
The baffled man then stood facing the silent, observant crew, 
pouring out his rage in threats and abuse. The calm voice 

of Mr. F was now heard, pleading for peace, and the 

mate came forward and led the captain aft. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 229 



CHAPTER XX. 

The Captain's Law. — Man cut down. — Ship adrift with Yards aback. — 
Men refuse Duty, and still drifting. — The "Round Robin." — Make sail 
for Sandwich Islands. — The Treaty, and a Peace-offering. — Remarkable 
Tenacity of Life in Sperm-whale. — Finback. — Gam with Adeline Gibbs, 
Captain West. — Greenwich and Mean Time compared. — Fighting 
Sperm-whale of the Galapagos. — A Yankee Trick on a Whale. — How 
Whalemen are made: Cabin-boy at ten, Master at twenty-two. — Love 
of the Profession. : — The Sailor dreams he is Captain, and goes on a 
Whale. — Shyness of Whales rather than diminished Numbers length- 
ens Voyages. — Balloon suggested to take Whales. — Water-spouts dis- 
cussed. — Mowee raised, and anchored at Honolulu. — Sad History of 
the Washonk. — Slaughter of the Crew, and recovery of the Ship. — 
Smuggling Rum on Board. — Pig-headed Perversity. — Offenders taken 
on Shore. 

After a time the captain ordered us into the waist again. 
We found him standing at the carpenter's bench, by the 
companion-way, bare-headed, more calm, and evidently de- 
termined as to his course. At his hand lay a pair of pistols, 
the roll of fate (the ship's articles), and a volume in law- 
binding. We stood in line, under the range of this formida- 
ble battery, and were allowed to gaze, while our antagonist 
arranged his weapons. This began to tell on the men ; for, 
while the pistols had no terror for them, the great white 
roll, which mysteriously held them bound, body and soul, 
and the thundering big book, at least twice as large as our 
" Bowditch," had an awful threatening aspect. We were 
getting a little shaky, when the captain drew from his hat 
a " colt," and the sight of the hated rope's-end closed up our 
fluttering rank. The captain opened fire by reading from 
the "Articles" how we had clearly forfeited our "lays" by 



230 NIMROB OF THE SEA; OR, 

disobedience and mutinous conduct, and he informed us that 
we were wretched outcasts, beyond the pale of human so- 
ciety and law; penniless, and of no account. Amen, we 
thought ; we can lose no more, and so we held our course. 

Our spokesman was now pushed forward to ask him "to 
read the law which authorized the punishment of the lash, 
without even the form of trial." For a short time the cap- 
taiu turned the leaves of the book, but he failed to find the 
law he sought. Then, with a threatening glance down our 
line, he took up both pistols, ready cocked, and said, " This 
is the law by which I will flog this man." He added to this 
a remarkable expression, characteristic of the whaling-cap- 
tain : " On the other side of the land I have my masters, the 
owners, and One above; but on this side of the cape I am 
master on board this ship." And stepping forward a pace 
or two, with pistol in one hand, and "colt" in the other, he 
continued, " I 'will flog that man, or any other of you, who 
may give occasion, and I give you fair warning that I will 
send a bullet through any man who interferes !" 

Now came the crisis ; and very quietly was it met ! The 
crew filed across the deck in double line between the after- 
hatch and the rail, between the captain and Bingham. Res- 
olute old Tom then turned, and with his sheath-knife sev- 
ered the yarns which held the captive's wrists, and told him 
to "cut his lucky" and* go forward. It was too plain a 
case. The captain saw in the faces of the men that the 
death of one would not deter them, and there was a crouch 
preparatory to the spring apparent in their bodies which 
showed that short shrift might be his if he fired. No sin- 
gle man on earth -could have faced down the quiet resolu- 
tion of that band, I am certain. 

Now all was quiet on the drifting ship. The cook failed 
to appear with breakfast, and a committee waited on him to 
remind him of the fact. It was surprising how soon he cor- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 231 

rectecl his oversight. In half an hour more the steward 
came forward with an order for Frank to go. aft (it was he 
who took the club from the captain's hand). Frank went; 
then Hans and the boy Sam were sent for, and they obeyed. 
Another was called, but we saw through the captain's game, 
and returned word that when the three men were returned 
to us any other would go aft,* but not before. Again the 
ship drifted, under short sail and mainyard aback. No man 
was at the mast-head ; a boat-steerer was at the helm ; ev- 
ery body was mad and snappish as a wolf. No bells were 
called, no watches stood. Loose and lawless our little ship 
drifted in mid-ocean, a speck of hell on earth. The men ab- 
solutely refused to touch line or sail until some terms were 
reached. 

Dec. 14. Threats of the darkest kind were made by the 
crew, who kept a strong watch on deck during the night, to 
prevent surprise, and this morning they united in the demand 
that the men decoyed aft should be liberated, or the ship 
put away to some consular port. Meantime the ship drifts 
at the mercy of wind and wave another day. 

Dec. 15. The captain resorted to various means to entrap 
or intimidate the men. A threat to starve us out, by closing 
the bread and meat casks, was met so promptly and energet- 
ically that it was not persisted in. During all this time the 
men have abstained from noisy demonstrations. All com- 
munications have passed through the spokesman ; and Mr. 

F 's utmost influence (and it is very great) has failed to 

move the men from their steadfast purpose to refuse all 
duty until their shipmates are set at liberty. 

Dec. 16. This morning we all signed a "round robin," 
setting forth our"" willingness to return to duty on the lib- 
eration of the three men." Our names are written in radi- 
ating lines, like the spokes of a wheel, so that there is no 
leading name to the list. Query : Is it from this custom of 



232 XLUIiOD OF THE SEA; OR, 

signing dangerous papers that the term "ringleader" was 
derived ? 

No immediate notice was taken of the " robin," but after 
a time the mate brought us word that the captain had de- 
termined to run to the Sandwich Islands, and there deliver 
the ship into the hands of the American consul. To this 
we had no objections, and,' provided no time was lost in 
cruising, we consented to work the ship into port. Accord- 
ingly we shook out the reefs, sheeted home the courses, 
squared in the yards, and set light sails and sternsails, and 

went bowling along under a cloud of canvas. Mr. F 

now called us about him on the forecastle, and asked us to 
go in the boats after whale, with the understanding that as 
soon as any grease was had we should continue our course. 
To this we assented, as we should have done to almost any 
thing he could have asked of us, as he had both the confi- 
dence, respect, and hearty good-will of the crew. 

The test soon came, and the " sweet little cherub " offered 
a chance for us to retrieve our voyage. The mast head had 
been scarcely manned when a whale was raised close aboard, 
the creature having ventured too much on our demoralized 
condition, evidently. The captain came from the cabin at 
the cry, and, looking anxiously forward, hesitated to issue 
the usual orders. The mate, in bluff, cheery voice, broke in, 
" Come, boys, hand sternsails." " Ay, ay, sir," and with old- 
time alacrity we took in light sails, braced the yards, and 
brought the ship to the wind. A bright gleam of something 
more than satisfaction lighted the careworn features of the 
" old man " as he busied himself in overhauling gear in his 
quarter-boat. The ship came to, with mainyard aback, with- 
in half a mile of the unconscious whale. ?^.t the next rising 
we went on, our boat fastened, and in twenty minutes our 
prey lay fin out. "When we were pulling on board, the cap- 
tain perceived a chance to heal the old wound. This fine 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 233 

whale was a peace-offering. The captain was in good humor, 
and said that if we would promise to behave ourselves he 
would let the men go, and we should continue the cruise on 
offshore ground. All this sounded very pleasant to us, but 
after coming on board, he found some technical difficulty, and 
refused to free them. Thus our last chance was lost, and it 
appeared that we must lose the season, and perhaps our voy- 
age. Again we were in the dumps ; our mates were in irons, 
and confined in a dark, suffocating hole in the hold. The 
whale alongside promised fifty barrels. 

In striking contrast with the shortness of time, and the 
seemingly slight means employed in the capture of this 
whale, I will present the experience of Captain Maloy, of the 
bark Osceola: The account from his journal is much as 
follows: "Lat. 19° S., long. 25° 30' W. Saw large whales; 
lowered and struck with waist-boat. SoOn after starboard 
boat struek same whale, and got stove ; the waist-boat then 
fired a bomb-lance into him, upon which he stove her, knock- 
ing the bottom entirely out of her. After picking up the 
crews of the stoven boats, kept the ship for the whale. On 
seeing the vessel he rushed at her, struck us on the bows, 
knocking off the cut-water with his head, and at the same 
time tearing the copper and sheathing from the bow with 
his jaw. Got into position and ran for the whale; ranged 
alongside and fired two bomb and two whale lances into 
him, but these failed to kill him. He remained on the sur-. 
face, and in the vicinity of the stoven boats ; lowered a boat, 
and without fastening fired two bomb-lances into him with- 
out sensible effect. As it was near night, I called the boat 
aboard, and made sail to hold our position during the night. 
The whale was occasionally heard fighting the fragments of 
the boats, oars, etc. Thus through the night he held his 
ground, although he had two lines (six hundred fathoms) 
towing on to the harpoons, five bombs exploded in him, and 



234 SnmOD OF THE SEA; OR, 

other Avounds from lances. At 7 a.m. lowered two boats to 
renew the attack with bomb-l'ances ; fired thirty-one into him 
before he yielded. He stowed down one hundred and fif- 
teen barrels of oil, one-half of Avhich was head matter." 

What a fearful disarrangement of internal economy must 
have arisen from such a bombardment, remembering that 
each bomb is driven deep into the creature's vitals and ex- 
plodes nearly half a pound of powder and iron tubing ! Yet 
I suppose none touched " the life," or the lungs would have 
been suffused with blood, and suffocation ensued. Here we 
have very strong evidence that it is only by touching one 
vital point that the monstrous power of the whale is speedi- 
ly overcome. 

J~an. 6. It must be an ingenious man of a strongly invent- 
ive mind who can keep an interesting daily journal of a 
passage in the trade-winds. Four bells succeed eight bells; 
watch relieves watch ; mast-head divides our duties with the 
helm ; no whales are seen ; no fighting occurs ; and a man 
must go into the " head " to swear, if a fit comes on irresist- 
ibly. The grub is regular, the water unstinted, and we have 
had a steady north - west course since our trouble. Some 
days since a noble finback whale exhibited himself in per- 
fect safety to those who were so anxiously seeking his dis- 
tant relative, the spermaceti. The finback ran parallel with 
our course for a considerable period, and often rose to spout 
within one hundred feet of the ship. I improved the oppor- 
tunity to go aloft and observe the movements of the huge but 
graceful swimmer. We were making fully ten knots; yet 
he kept beside us with little effort, and rose and sank lei- 
surely, with a slow, regular sweep of his vast propeller. We 
estimated his length at ninety feet. It is asserted that two 
whales of this species have been measured — one, one hun- 
dred and five feet long ; and Sir A. de Capell Brooks states 
that a finback is occasionally seen one hundred and twenty 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 235 

feet long. The thinness of its blubber and the shortness of 
its whalebone render it of far less value than others of its 
species, while its extreme swiftness and strength make its 
capture very hazardous. It is rarely struck with a harpoon, 
a favorite expression of our whalemen being that it " will 
run the nails out of the bottom of a boat." Scoresby 
struck one, and says that it sounded and ran out four hun- 
dred and eighty fathoms of line in a minute, or at the rate 
of thirty -two miles in an hour. Singularly enough, this 
whale, so seldom taken, is more correctly figured in natural 
histories than either the sperm or right whales. 

Our meeting with a friendly ship afforded us some diver- 
sion that we Would not otherwise have had. " What ship's 
that?" we hailed, as we passed almost under her stern. 
"Adeline Gibbs, of New Bedford, Captain West, seventeen 
months out, nine hundred barrels of oil. Come to, and I'll 

send a boat on board." We complied, and Mr. F , with 

a boat's crew, went on the Gibbs, while Captain West visit- 
ed us. We braced forward and stood on the wind, and our 
companion ship lay under our lee. Of course I was exceed- 
ingly anxious to gather all I could of the rich experiences 
which would doubtless pass between the two captains, and 
I had an opportunity as I stood at the helm. The two old 
seamen retired to the cabin for a short time, to compare 
chronometers, I suppose ; for their bronzed faces were a 
flush redder when they came on deck again, and a brighter 
gleam in their keen eyes expressed satisfaction at the com- 
parison. Greenwich time from a case-bottle, as compared 
with mean time from the " scuttle-butt," has a wonderful in- 
fluence on "jawing tackle." As they came up the compan- 
ion-way, my ear caught from Captain West, " Galapagos — 
old bull — regular sodger — spouting blood ;" and when they 
took seats near the binnacle, Captain West lighted his cigar, 
and went on with his story : 



236 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

"The rest of the school worked off to leeward, and the 
three loose boats followed them. My boat was pretty busy 
with the job in hand, and didn't take much notice of the rest, 
for our whale began to show the ugly. He milled round, 
and brought his nose right on to the broadside, and blew 
thick blood right across the boat. I laid the boat around 
and pulled ahead to clear his jaw; he was snapping his 
spout-hole close alongside with a force which would have 
mashed a hand. The crew kept cool, however, and worked 
like clock-work. They were the same good fellows that 
came on board with me. 

"Directly he settled away out of sight in the bloody wa- 
ter, and came up on a half-breach right amidships of the 
boat and sent us kiting. The boat came down keel up, with 
a tangle of the line about the stern and loggerhead. I got 
on the bottom and found she wasn't badly stove, so I called 
to the men to come alongside and help right her; but our 
ugly neighbor was ranged alongside, and the boys preferred 
to hug their oars. The next moment the whale started slow- 
ly to leeward after the school, and the boat followed stern 
first about ten yards beyond his flukes, with me still cling- 
ing to the keel. Then I felt real bad ; there were my poor 
fellows holding on to the oars ; the sea was pretty rough, 
and considerable white-caps were running. I could count 
only four heads, and I knew one had gone down. Away to 
leeward was the ship, and the other boats were out of sight 
from where I lay. I shouted to them to keep good heart, 
and Brown, the boat-steerer, cheerily answered, 'Ay, ay, sir,' 
as I slowly passed away from them, the whale sobbing thick 
blood just ahead of me, and staining the wake deep red. 

" Then I felt that the line must be cut, sure. I crept to 
the stern, and could see the tangle hanging in bights about 
the stretched line ; but it was three feet under water, and I 
couldn't reach it. I had only a short-bladed pocket-knife — 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 237 

sharp^however, and I hoped to be able to cut. Watching a 
chance, when the whale slacked a little, I dived for the line, 
missed it, caught a bight, and got on the boat again. I 
looked back, and could see the heads of my crew as they 
were raised on the sea. They soon would pass from sight, 
and I felt sick at their peril. After several efforts I suc- 
ceeded in righting the boat, but it came over on top of me. 
I clutched at the smooth bottom in a vain effort to secure a 
hold. It glided over and away from me. When I came to 
the surface she was three or four feet from me, and going 
faster than before. I almost gave up ; I was almost tuck- 
ered out. Just then a line touched my hip ; it made me al- 
most leap from the water as I thought of being tangled in 
the line. But on seizing it, I found it was the boat-warp, 
and with its aid I drew up to the bow, and after considera- 
ble effort was able to get into the boat, and creep forward 
and cut the line with the boat-hatchet. Then I was done 
for. I lay back against the cuddy-board, and shut my eyes 
to catch a minute's rest ; but what could I do, in my water- 
logged boat without oar or sail, for the poor fellows to wind- 
ward ? Captain B , I an't ashamed to own it, but I 

don't believe that it was all sea-water that flooded my eyes 
in that moment of helplessness. God save them, thought I, 
for they seem past human help. Just then the voice of the 
mate came over the sea, ' Hold on, Captain West ; I am at 
hand !' I was as much sui'prised as though my prayer had 
been answered, and the Lord's angels had come from heaven 
to save us, for when I had last swept the horizon there was 
nothing in sight except the distant ship. The mate pulled 
up, and took me on board ; I then found that the cook had 
been lost, and the after-oarsman was lying insensible on the 
thwarts. I ordered the boat directly to the ship for restor- 
atives for the exhausted man, and sent back for the stove 
boat. The second and third mates meantime had got a good 



238 NIMBOD OF THE SEA; OR, 

whale to leeward. Thus we were saved by the first mate 
having pulled promptly to windward when signal of ' stove 
boat' was made from the ship. A little time lost would 
have cost the lives of as good a boat's crew as ever went on 
a sperm-whale." 

" Why don't you keep her steady ? She's three points off 
the wind," said Captain B to the interested helmsman. 

" Steady she is, sir," said I, as I put the helm down and 
brought the ship again close to the wind. 

The cigars were out, and the captains retired to the cabin 
again to wind up the chronometer. I suppose that is a duty 
never to be neglected, lest you lose your reckoning on the 
deep water. I guessed it worked hard, as their faces were 
a little redder than ever when they returned. 

Then Captain B told of another fighting whale, which 

fought nearly all day, staving three boats with his jaw, and 
cutting every thing which caught his eye, whether mast, 
sails, boats, or water-kegs. But this behavior made Yankee 
just as mad as old Spermaceti, who was now fated to be 
scalped. Accordingly, the captain took advantage of the 
whale's bad humor, and towed down a ninety-gallon cask 
for the brute to practice on, and while the whale was dis- 
cussing this nimble float, he probed industriously with the 
keen lance. Thick blood and the flurry followed, and eighty 
barrels of oil repaid for the lost boats, leaving a handsome 
balance also. 

In reply to a question, Captain West said : 

" I went to sea as cabin-boy at ten years of age ; at four- 
teen, I steered a boat and struck my first whale ; at sixteen, 
I was second mate. Our first mate didn't much like a whale; 
a wife and children hung on his lance-arm, and made its 
aim uncertain. They freighted his boat down, and I could 
always beat him in the chase. I was a boy who meant to 
be captain or to go under, and didn't mean to go under if 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 239 

I could help it. At twenty-two I was master, and in twen- 
ty voyages have followed the right whale from ground to 
ground, from the banks of the South Atlantic, around the 
East Cape to the Pacific, through Mozambique to Delgado 
Bay, East Africa ; most everywhere a whale could be found, 
in fact. Once I passed Behring Strait into the Arctic Seas, 
when the ice began to swing in on us, on the 5th of Septem- 
ber. Away up there we met the bow-heads, or true Green- 
land whales, old fellows that would turn up two hundred 
and fifty barrels of oil, and give three thousand pounds of 
bone, single slabs of which would run to fourteen and fif- 
teen feet in length. There we might turn up one thousand 
barrels of oil without letting the fire down in the try-works, 
and in that day our oil might be worth from seventeen to 
twenty-five cents per gallon ; bone would bring seven cents. 
The latter wasn't worth hoisting in. Don't you think a 
man must have loved whaling to go for that? I tell you I 
did love it. I might not be bailing a fortune in the sea, but 
I had the tallest kind of hunting, and we always picked up 
some sperm-whales in our passages, which always paid." 

The spirit of the enthusiastic captain touched an answer- 
ing chord in the heart of the young dreamer, who leaned 
against the idle wheel; and he stood no longer the slouch- 
ing, half-clad sailor, at the beck and call of every superior, 
but was master of a ship, beautiful as the one he steered. 
I had a good boat under me, with a crew who could trust 
in me, and in whom I could trust. A good whale had just 
risen a short half-mile ahead of me; three minutes of time; 
ten capping seas lay between the harpoon's point and le- 
viathan: I would change places with no king, for no royal 
huntsman from the days of Nimrod was ever so equipped 
or had such regal game to tempt to the chase ! I have gir- 
dled the world that I might be here ; I have swept a planet 
to run this race. With five brave fellows, trained in many 



340 N1MROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

a contest, until my life is their life, and my will is their will, 
I am all in all. The very boat is part of me. I talk to 
myself, and five souls respond in the quick stroke of the oar. 
The cloven, bubbling sea flits beneath me. The fleeing whale 
rises and sinks. My eye alone drinks in the grand sight and 
diffuses the excitement to my men. Foot by foot we draw 
on our game, and my energy bends the supple oar like the 
bow of the archer. Two silver crowns yet lay between us; 
the music of the spout comes through the light rush of the 
boat, and the wild scent of a strange breath touches our 
dilating nostrils. The blood is on fire with the madness of 
the moment. The whale will spout but a few times, and we 
shall lose him forever. Now, my merry men, for him ! We 
spring all; we leap from the crest to the valley; we fly in 
a milky way through the boiling eddies of his monstrous ef- 
fort. Now the corner of his waving flukes gleam azure be- 
neath the boat. Another mighty effort; the whale glides 
beneath us. Stand up, and take him as he rises ! pull for 
dear life ! steady ! Now give it to him ! With hissing 
plunge, the keen iron pierces the rising game ; an instant 
the breath is held for the cut of the flukes. Amidst spray 
and foam the boat is backed from the danger, and an 
eighty-foot whale whirls the line from the tub, until the log- 
gerhead is lost in the smoke of burning wood. 

This is royal sport which a wild democracy may love. In 
this supreme moment the hunter is uppermost, and few men 
then count the value of the oil, be it measured in pennies or 
human lives. My teeth are deep set in the huge flank of 
our gigantic prey, and we will not calculate the dollars until 
blood returns to a level with arithmetic. Only a dream yet ! 
Only a dream, interrupted by the captain's voice which 
awakened me to the conversation. 

Captain West seemed to think that voyages were length- 
ened by the wildness of whales, rather than by their scarcity ! 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 241 

"You see whales enough, but how to get on them is the 
question. In my last voyage on the False Banks, South At- 
lantic, I saw right whale laying flukes and fins. We ran 
the ship well to windward and lowered, dropping one end of 
the boat first to prevent the swash. We ran down with 
sails, putting only the tip of the steering-oar in the water, 
and no man spoke above a whisper. Thus we ran down si- 
lent as a bird's flight ; but, at about a quarter of a mile, the 
nearest rounded out his flukes and went down ; then anoth- 
er, and another, slowly and solemnly, without white water, 
until all were gone. Then we rounded to, so as not to run 
into their wake, when wooshoo ! like an exhaust steam- 
pipe, sounded the blow of a great fellow half a mile away. 
And wooshoo ! here they were again lazily basking on the 
surface, all on the alert and keeping exact run of the boats. 
Do my cunning best, I didn't get nearer that day to a school 
which would have filled my ship ten times over. It was 
like chasing the rainbow. Now, what are you going to do 
in such a case ?" 

" I do not know," answered Captain B ," unless we tow 

out a small balloon from the boats and drop a bomb-lance 
with lighted fuse, and blow up their insides. I guess an 
ingenious man might arrange that in light weather among 
school-whales. It is evident that the fear of the whale-boat 
has been transmitted until it has become instinctive, and we 
must attack them from the air. When Pennsylvania's oil- 
wells give out we will try this trick on." 

As we had seen water-spouts during the early morning, 
this phenomenon now became a subject of discourse. Cap- 
tain West described one which passed so near the Adeline 
Gibbs, that with his glass he could distinguish the flying-fish 
glancing out of the foaming base of the cone, and falling out- 
side the influence of the vortex. In this he was confirmed 
by seeing a number of gonees flying around the foaming col- 

11 



242 NIJUROD OF THE SEA; OS, 

umn, and darting upon the exposed fishes. While he was 
watching their motions, one of the birds got within influence 
of the whirl, and with only time for a loud squeak it disap- 
peared, whether upward or downward the captain could not 




WATEE-SPOUT. 



affirm, but that it was thus suddenly caught he could not 
doubt. The bird was plain in sight when caught, and so 
near that its cry could be heard. 

"But," he continued, "the mystery of the water-spout is 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 343 

in its power to render the water fresh — that is, if it takes the 
water upward. I have observed this interesting phenome- 
non off Panama Bay, where the spouts abound in the rainy 
season ; also on the Line, in the Gulf Stream, and in the In- 
dian Ocean. I have seen thirty, perhaps, of varying sizes, 
in a single day ; but I never knew it to rain salt-water, nor 
have I heard of any one else doing so." 

The visit was at an end ; Captain West went to his own 
ship, and our mate's boat returned, with some interesting 
books, secured in exchange for those which we had exhausted. 
The Gibbs squared her yards and stood away to leeward, 
and she and her pleasant captain and crew passed away. 

On the evening of the 6th we raised the high mountain 
peaks of Maui, as they loomed sharply in the western sky, 
above a heavy ledge of clouds which obscured the setting 
sun. So far I realize visions created by reading the charm- 
ing accounts in Cook's voyages of these favorite islands, on 
one of which he lost his life. 

Jan. V. Passing near the islands Rhani and Morotoi, to- 
ward evening we ran in for Diamond Head, and dropped 
anchor outside the coral reef between the head and the nar- 
row entrance into the harbor of Honolulu. On account of 
heavy gusts which swept from the mountain gorges, we sent 
down the light spars, and made every thing snug alow and 
aloft, with both anchors down. The captain ordered his 
boat on shore. The wind was strong and dead ahead, and 
we had a hard and wet pull. As we approached the pier, I 
was surprised at the number and size of the houses built iu 
the American style. The pier was well built out of hewn 
coral. The fort to the right seemed of considerable strength ; 
the guns were small, but commanded the harbor and its ap- 
proach. 

The captain left the boat at the pier, with orders that the 
crew should remain by her, and not wander into the town, 



244 NIMROD OF THE SEA ; OR, 

so we had no opportunity to test the new civilization of the 
islands. Time would have hung heavily enough on our 
hands, if a boat-steerer and two of the crew of the WashonJc, 
of Falmouth, had not come down on the pier and recounted 
their terrible experience while cruising off some of the sav- 
age islands of the Line. The incidents were so remarkable 
that our officers took pains to verify the account, and the 
following is, as near as I can remember, the substance : 

On the morning of the 18th proximo the WashonJc found 
herself partially becalmed in the vicinity of the Mulgrave 
Islands. A large number of the natives came off in canoes, 
and, pretending to want to trade, were allowed to climb 
aboard the ship. One of the older seamen had, in a former 
voyage, suffered from an attack by these treacherous people, 
and he warned the captain against the danger of allowing 
so many on board ; but the master felt secure, and paid no 
attention to the warning. The natives occupied much of 
the deck, and mixed freely with the men, trading shells and 
fruit for hoops and other articles of iron. They had, with- 
out exciting suspicion, gathered at points favorable for their 
murderous purpose, and the first-warning the crew had of 
their danger was an attack by the natives, armed with the 
sharp spades they had found in the spade-rack under the 
spare boats. 

The captain was the first victim. He was beheaded by a 
blow of the broad-edged spade ; the poor fellow at the helm 
fell about the same moment. The first mate was killed as 
he leaped down the f orehatch ; and several others were killed 
or grievously wounded as they retreated to the forecastle. 
The second mate ran out on the jib-boom, where he was 
struck with a stone or spear, and, falling, was clubbed to 
death. The natives had now possession of the deck, and 
they proceeded to fasten the hatches and companion-way, so 
as to cut off the em-ess of the crew. One in command now 



THE AMEBIC AN WHALEMAN. 345 

went to the wheel, and headed the ship toward the shore. 
The boat-steerer, who was on the lookout at the mast-head, 
and a man at the fore, were horrified spectators of the slaugh- 
ter on deck, and feeling that their only safety was in getting 
the yards aback, they ran down the rigging and cut such of 
the braces as they could reach without getting in range of 
the spears and stones of the yelling savages. The effect 
was to allow the yards to swing freely, and the ship lost 
steerage-way, and drifted before the light wind, fortunately 
toward open water. The chief at the wheel, as soon as he 
saw this movement, gave vent to his rage in a round of En- 
glish oaths, thus revealing the fact that a white man was 
leader in the murderous attack. 

While these events were occurring above decks, there was 
a storm brewing under the hatches which these devils little 
suspected. Under the third mate, there were gathered in 
the dark, narrow forecastle the remnant of the crew, all told, 
nineteen men. Two were at the mast-head, and they had 
reason to suppose the rest had been killed. Of those in the 
forecastle six were more or less gashed by the terrible 
, spades, but there were thirteen able-bodied men awaiting 
the grating of the keel on the coral-reef. They supposed 
that it was only a question of time ; yet these brave hearts 
cast about for means to renew the fight. The third mate 
leading them, they wormed their way over and through the 
casks between decks, and reached the cabin, which they re- 
joiced to find unoccupied. The thirteen determined men 
gathered around the arms-chest in the cabin ; such weapons 
as they found were loaded and distributed, and, as fully pre- 
pared as possible for a desperate sortie, they passed to the 
companion-way, only to find the door securely fastened on 
the outside. Now they were thoroughly alarmed, and they 
returned to the cabin, where, in fearful suspense, they await- 
ed the shock of the ship striking ; but the mate's eye caught 



•m NIMIiOD OF THE HEA; OX, 

the movements of the tell-tale compass in the cabin, and 
this awakened a new hope. 

At this moment the deck sky-light became obscured. On 
looking iap, the men discovered a face peering through the 
glass. " That's for you !" exclaimed the mate, as he fired 
his musket through the light, and a fall on the deck told 
that the white man had drawn first blood in this prolonged 
contest. The smell of the powder-smoke inspired the crew 
with a new idea of escape. The mate quietly ordered them 
to open the "run," and get up a keg of powder. They 
placed a quantity of the explosive contents on the upper 
step of the companion-way, and laid a train of oakum and 
powder to the cabin. The mate prepared to fire the train, 
while the men stood ready for a rush. He told them not to 
wait for him if any harm came to him, but to dash through 
the smoke and take the savages in their first fright. On 
the word he fired the train, and in a moment the explosion 
took place with a fearful crashing of timbers, followed by 
the screams of the burned and torn savages who were gath- 
ered about the companion-door. Bursting through the pall 
of smoke, the crew sprung on the now terror-stricken brutes, 
who offered very little resistance, and, leaping from the ship, 
sought safety in their canoes. A large canoe filled with 
them was broken by an anvil dropped into it, and not a man 
escaped the shots from the deck. The retreating canoes 
were followed by the vengeful bullets as long as they re- 
mained in range. Then, repairing the braces and getting 
steerage-way, the well men bandaged the fearful wounds of 
their shipmates who were left bleeding in the forecastle. 
The bodies of the slain had been thrown overboard by the 
savages. Thirteen of the latter were found dead, and sev- 
eral mangled by the effect of the explosion. The men at the 
mast-head reported a number blown overboard, and described 
the effect of this volcanic mode of warfare as decisive in the 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 347 

extreme. Several of the wounded savages were thrown into 
a canoe and set adrift to be recovered by their countrymen. 

On the passage to Houolulu, the wounded men suffered 
greatly from the effect, on such broad and deep flesh-wounds, 
of the hot climate. They burned the wounds with a hot 
iron, as the best thing they could do. After a tedious voy- 
age, they arrived at Honolulu late in December, expecting 
to go directly home. 

Such is the fearful story of the Washonk, as recounted to 
us by one of the actors in the tragedy, adding another to the 
list of perils which beset the path of the whaleman. It is 
finely characteristic of the courage and self-reliance in emer- 
gencies of the men who make up the whaling service. 

The captain returned from the town silent and morose, 
and we pulled him on board the ship without taking with us 
fruit or refreshments, save certain fluids-contained in bladders 
partly filled, so as to stow conveniently and secretly about the 
person. These pigs' bladders are in great demand in ports fre- 
quented by whale-ships, as by them liquor may be smuggled 
on board in spite of the vigilance of the officer. No evidence 
of its presence is manifest while it remains outside the man, 
and when it is inside, a good stomach-pump, vigorously ap- 
plied, can only cheat Jack out of his stolen gratification. I 
think such an instrument is a needful part of a whaler's outfit. 

Jan. 8. To-day the powers that be again perversely ran 
counter to our fortune, and added to the hardships of our 
life. Early in the morning the captain's boat was oi'dered 
away with a selected crew. These were the men shipped in 
Payta, excepting the boat-steerer. Hans and poor little Sam 
were brought from confinement, both pale and sick, and placed 
in the boat. The regular crew of the boat wondei'ed some- 
what at their being left on board the ship, but no one sus- 
pected the scheme of the captain ; and so the poor fellows 
pulled away from us to a prison without even a farewell 
from their comrades. 



348 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OS, 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Angling for Sharks. — Shark in Stays. — Carpenter of the Jolly Ananias and 
unfortunate Shark. — Land-sharks dealing with our Crew. — Consular Bru- 
tality and Injustice. — Six Months in an Indian Fort awarded. — A surly 
Crew at the Windlass. — Captain's Speech, and Comments.— Our Kanaka 
Crew. — Speed of Whales argued. — The Run described. — Coughs and 
Colds. — General Wretchedness. — Tropical Rains and Water-spouts. — 
Want of Faith in Science avowed. — Job on Rain and bad Weather. 

We on board killed a hog, and dressed it for an immediate 
sea-pie; and while the " Doctor" was cooking the body, some 
of the ci-ew tied the entrails to a line, and fastened them to 
the spars projecting over the stern. The motion of the ship 
alternately lifted and dipped them into the water, and in a 
short time we were surrounded by a crowd of sharks, who 
worried themselves badly about the unsavory morsel. Mean- 
while we prepared a more substantial meal for the voracious 
monsters. Baiting a chain-guarded shark-hook, we awaited 
sport. A great fellow turned deftly on his side, seized the 
tempting lure, and dashed for the depths ; but our good gear 
was too much for his strength, and with the most vigorous 
protestations he was brought head out of water alongside. 
A running bow-line inclosing the line was passed over his 
head and below the great fins, and hauled taut. So he was 
hauled over the rail on to the deck. The sharks were 
large and numerous here, and we adopted the most expedi- 
tious methods of disposing of them. In the opinion of sail- 
ors, cruelty to the shark is fairly beyond human contrivance, 
and in this spirit we played a practical joke on a gray-head- 
ed patriarch of the family. According to usage, when the 
crew are not of a blood-thirsty mood, they simply put the 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. „. 251 

shark in " corsets " and let it go, the " coi'set " being inside 
the "varmint." "We thrust an old iron pole down our 
friend's ample throat, leaving still room for a little savage, 
or large pair of boots; and after taking care that one end 
of the iron projected, that he might exercise his teeth and 
ill temper, we tossed him overboard. As the rigid pole held 
him to a course, he made a straight wake on the surface, 
much to the entertainment of the boys, whose possible coffin 
the brute was. One shark, fifteen feet in length, I dissected 
to the extent of his leathery jaw, which was garnished with 
half a dozen concave circular saws. I intended to carry this 
trophy home to show the Radnor people. 

It is said among sailors that the hard digestion of a hun- 
gry shark has brought the dead to life. As the yarn goes : 

The carpenter of the Jolly Ananias, of Nantucket, Cap- 
tain Marcy, died off Zanzibar. He was stitched up in can- 
vas, and a pet grindstone was lashed to his feet to anchor 
the body. An affectionate chip of the poor old block, stand- 
ing by the gangway-plank, reached over, with tearful eyes, 
to catch a last glimpse of his father, when his foot slipped, 
and he fell in almost at the same time as the dead man. 
Just then a great white shark swept around from the bows, 
and, very naturally, the poor boy and his father were out of 
sight in an instant. The shark leisurely swept under the 
quarter, shaking red flannel from his saw-teeth, and casting 
up his hungry eye for any more boys there were to spare. 
Captain Marcy was a cool-headed, friendly man, who struck 
twice before he spoke at all. He was about launching an 
iron at the brute, when young Coffin, the mate, suggested 
that he might hurt the boy. The captain said he hadn't 
thought of that, and a baited hook was dropped. Quick as 
a flash the bait was taken, and in as little time the monster 
was lashing the quarter-deck. A blow on the head settled 
him, when, to the amazement of the crew, a cutting sound 

11* 



248 .„ NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

came from within, and the dead carpenter's voice was heard 
addressing his son: "Now push ahead, my boy, and hail 
the first craft you see." Out came the half -naked boy, fol- 
lowed first by the grindstone, and next by the revived car- 
penter, not much the worse for wear. His story was that 
in his watch below, as he thought his funeral, he awoke 
dreaming that he was going through a threshing-machine, 
and found that something had torn his hammock, and was 
digging into his back. He knew this was an awful moment 
for him, and that he would be dissolved in no time if he did 
not present a "counter irritant," so he offered the grind- 
stone to the shark, as he found his assailant to be, and took 
off the keen edge of his appetite. He then felt compara- 
tively comfortable ; and presently, to their mutual surprise, 
father and son met. The boy now held the stone to the 
cutting edges of the shark's digestion, while his father put 
an edge on the boy's sheath-knife, to fight their way out by 
a short cut. They felt the bump on deck, and cut at once. 
" He who would be free, himself must strike the blow." 

While we sailors were thus tenderly dealing with the 
sea-shark, the land-sharks were more summarily devouring 
our poor shipmates on shore. 

In the evening the captain returned from the shore, bring- 
ing with him but one of the old crew and ten Kanakas. 
The remaining crew were terribly enraged at this ; they felt 
that he had acted unfairly by them. By word and action, 
at the time of taking the last whale, he had allowed the idea, 
that he came to this port pro forma, to satisfy a legal tech- 
nicality. He had almost said to us, "I must report to the 
first American consul, and then we will turn to and retrieve 
lost time." The thought of going to sea with such a hea- 
thenish crew as now darkened our forecastle was intolerable. 
When we learned the treatment and fate of our shipmates 
on shore, our resentment knew no bounds. Stimulated by 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 251 

the rum brought on board yesterday, our excitement be- 
came so intense that, thoughtless of consequences, some of 
the men were in danger of committing a monstrous crime, 
and pulling to the shore during the night by the light of 
our burning ship. The captain and the second mate wise- 
ly kept their cabins, and allowed our old favorite, F , to 

face the storm. All the great-hearted man could do was to 
look sorry. There were no tears in his eyes, of course ; but 
we knew they were in his heart, and we heard them in his 
voice, as he kindly advised us to be patient under our sup- 
posed wrongs. This saved the ship. A single harsh word 
or threat would have fired a train which would have con- 
signed most of us deservedly to share the fate of our poor 
mates. 

The action of the consul, as it appeared to us by the re- 
port of the returned man, was'brutal and tyrannical. On 
the appearance of the crew before him, he addressed them 
thus : 

" You infernal rascals, you have been guilty of mutiny, 
have you ?" 

One of the men replied : " We suppose we have been 
brought before an American consul to have that question 
settled by a fair trial." 

Such an idea seemed to amuse him and restore good-hu- 
mor. He laughed as though the fellow had perpetrated a 
capital joke ; but the man spoiled the fun by continuing : 

"As American citizens, I and my shipmates demand a tri- 
al, with opportunity to call witnesses, now on board the ship, 
and prevented from appearing by our accuser." 

The consul angrily replied : " You impudent scoundrel ! 
do you think I haven't the facts of the case before me? The 
captain has posted me, and I won't have any more of your 
jaw." 

In vain the men pleaded that Mr. F , the boat-steer- 



XIMIiOD OF THE SEA; OR, 



ers, and carpenter might be heard as witnesses ; but this sim- 
ply aroused the devil in this petty representative of a great 
nation, and he abused the poor fellows in words of stinging 

and blasphemous insult. " Had I been Captain B ," he 

concluded, " I would have flogged every man of you before 
the mast." 

This was too much for one of the poor fellows, who had 
stood silent up to this time. Stepping forward, he shook 
his great fist in the face of the consul, and said : " It an't 
in you ; for we would have passed you to the sharks before 
you had touched even that poor sick boy !" pointing to little 
Sam, who, pale and emaciated from long confinement, and his 
unhealed wound, sat looking with wondering, tearful eyes on 
the scene. 

Thus ended the trial; the men were hurried away to the 
fort, sentenced to six months' imprisonment and hard labor 
under Kanaka task-masters. The man who returned had 
carried his official Protection papers " as an American citi- 
zen," and the brutal dispenser of injustice did not dare to 
trample these underfoot. 

Jan. 9. The captain, taking a crew of Kanakas, and steer- 
ing himself, went on shore and staid until afternoon. When 
he returned, he ordered the anchor up. The crew were dog- 
ged and sullen, only awaiting provocation to be worse. Slow- 
ly the windlass went round ; the usual heaving-songs and 
chorus were hushed ; the slow clank of the chain w r as the 
only sound ; and daylight passed into night before the first 
anchor was to the bows. Before supper the captain mounted 
the windlass and spoke to us. He said: "I have noticed, 
and been grieved at your conduct. My mind was to end 
this unfortunate trouble differently, but I found it necessary 
to place the ship in the consul's hands, and have acted under 
his advice. I am going to sea for a three -months' cruise, 
and then will return to recruit for Japan. Then you shall 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 253 

have full liberty on shore. Now eat your supper, and let us 
have a better face in the morning." 

We made free use of the sailor's ancient prerogatives, 
growling and grumbling, and various were the comments 
on the captain's speech as we cut heartily into the unctuous 
pork and briny beef. Posey, in his reasonable way, chimed 
in, " Well, boys, you must allow the captain did the hand- 
some thing in apologizing, instead of damning your eyes, as 
he had a legal right to do." 

"That's so," answered an old salt, more briny than the 
beef he was munching ; " that's so ; but it's my opinion if the 
captain would cuss more and pray less, our mates wouldn't 
be in that fort, and we could trust him more. It don't 
seem natural to hear these mushmolly, softly-go-easy ways 
in a tussle with the sea. The captain '11 do for a soapy lands- 
man, but he don't fit to the quarter-deck." 

Jan. 10 {Sunday). With the crew slightly improved in 
temper, we hove the second anchor to the bows, the wind 
being light and the weather pleasant. Our Kanakas have 
all seen service on whale-ships. They appear to be a cheer- 
ful, inoffensive people, and they regard with amazement the 
angry, quarrelsome race they have come among. With the 
characteristic justice of the Anglo-Saxon in dealing with a 
" man and brother of a darker hue," we have treated the 
recruits as though they were answerable for the confounded 
row of the past few days. The Kanaka names are long, un- 
pronounceable, and unfitted for the quick orders of a ship's 
deck. Therefore the islanders are. always re- named when 
they enter the service. The nautical name seems to please 
them, and they always report and answer to it : " Spun-yarn," 
" Maintop," " Jack of Maui," " Jack of Oahu," are examples 
of their new christening. I intend to pick up the lingo of 
our brown mates. Hawaiian will serve in polite society to 
hold my own against traveled friends who patter French 



354 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

and Latin. It may show that I, too, am a traveled man, who 
has learned the difference between a lion, a bear, and a turtle- 
dove. " Hookee nui, mi ti, ourrie hana pah," may prove an 
excellent diversion in company. The sound of the islanders' 
talk is low and pleasant, full of vowels and soft sounds, with- 
out an s or izzard. 

Jan. 15. Since my last we have lowered once for whales. 
In the early morning we put off, and with sail and oar chased 
them thirty miles dead to leeward ; but they gained on us, 
and we gave up the chase. I am now satisfied that the 
speed of the sperm-whale in traveling is much greater than 
is allowed by most writers. To-day we had a good breeze, 
sprit-sail set, and five pairs of arms to urge forward the 
fastest sea-going boat the world knows, *but still the whales 
gained several miles on us. Nevertheless, they were not gal- 
lied or making unusual exertions, so far as we could judge, 
and I should not like to say that ten miles an hour is the 
greatest speed this whale attains when aroused to fullest 
exercise of its power. Brothers of the lance and harpoon, 
recall old memories, and bear me out in saying that the speed 
of a young, fifty-barrel bull whale, under the spur of a har- 
poon, and the provocation of a single boat, is the maximum 
of water-travel — short of steam-power; and, further, that rail- 
road travel is tame compared to the sensation of a foui'-mile 
dash to windward, close behind the playful flukes of a whale. 
Ye who doubt, ascertain for yourselves. Experienced water- 
men quote the behavior of a boat towing behind a steamer, 
as evidence that a whale-boat would capsize at a speed of 
twelve miles an hour. An empty boat would, to be sure ; 
but it is not an emj)ty boat behind a whale, and that makes 
all the difference. The racing-boat has on her thwarts six 
trained men, whose lithe bodies sway to her motions as the 
rope-dancer does to his unsteady footing. The order of the 
officer in such a boat is, " Steady, men — trim boat — don't 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 255 

shift your tobacco ;" and the boat is thus preserved in a run 
in which an empty boat would be instantly capsized. 

I verily believe that a fast whale, for fifteen or twenty 
minutes, can run at the rate of fifteen or twenty miles an 
hour, and I would rather add two than take one mile from 
the estimate. As I think I have before explained, the dash 
of a whale is known as a "Nantucket sleigh-ride;" and 'tis 
perhaps the most killing ride the world wots of. I am 
awai-e that very many experienced whalemen hold the speed 
of the whale at a lower estimate ; and Captain Sullivan, of 
New Bedford, warned me against falling into the usual over- 
estimate. He stated that ten or twelve miles is the whale's 
greatest speed ; that in passage the creatures do not travel 
more than five miles ; and th^t we misjudge the speed of 
the boat because the eye is so close to the water. At 
any rate, to-day our whales beat us out, and I guess we 
got our boat through the water at more than five miles an 
hour. 

As we advance southward, the weather becomes squally 
and wet, and all hands suffer more or less from severe colds. 
The hoarse, barking coughs we hear in the nightwatches 
are an unpleasant reminder of Northern climes. The first 
time in my long life — and I am almost of age — that I have 
had to study up pulmonics has been while I have been stand- 
ing barefooted on the wet deck, saturated with sea-spray, 
and baying at the moon in a midnight watch, between the 
tropics of Cancer and Capricorn — an admirable position, 
surely, for practical knowledge of the endm-ing capacity of 
the human lungs. The cause of sickness on board is the 
constant wet from deluging rains and spraying seas leaping 
over the bows of our beautiful craft. At 9 p.m. to-day the 
gaff-topsail was blown into ribbons. We double-reefed fore 
and maintop sail, and ran our course. 

Jan. 16. In the third watch we were visited by one of the 



256 XIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

deluges of rain which tropical wanderers strive to describe. 
In the darkness we could not see its approach, but the dis- 
tant sound was as of a storm of wind through a forest's fo- 
liage. The men were stationed at halyards, clew-lines, and 
reef-tackles, to "let run and clew up" at the word. The 
roaring torrent came on us with little wind, however; it 
almost becalmed the little gale which preceded it, and it 
struck us like the break of a combing sea. It may have 
fallen in drops, but such drops ! I am persuaded that Noah's 
neighbors would have been disposed of in less than forty 
days of such a shower. ■ We felt actually beaten to the deck 
by the down-pour, and we fled to the protection of the up- 
turned spare boats and the slight poop-deck. Here, in the 
roaring darkness, we crouched, surrounded by a noisy river, 
which swept the rolling decks gunwale deep. The scuppers 
gave no relief, and the surging water dashed against and 
oyer the low bulwarks of the waist, as the laboring ship roll- 
ed under the deluge. From this time and forever, I hold 
my assent from savants who attempt to explain their knowl- 
edge of the " treasures of the snow and the treasures of the 
hail;" and of the "way the light is parted which scattereth 
the east wind upon the earth ;" and of Him " who hath di- 
vided a water-course for the overflowing of the waters, or a 
way for the lightning of the thunder;" and who explain 
away " the causes of the rain where no man is ; on the wil- 
derness, wherein there is no man, to satisfy the desolate and 
waste gi'ound, and to cause the tender herb to spring forth." 
Learned and experienced teachers of men, gird up your loins, 
and answer ye me : " Hath the rain a father ? or who hath 
begotten the drops of the dew? out of whose womb came 
the ice? and the hoar-frost of heaven, who hath made it?" 
Your theories of evaporation and condensation are insuffi- 
cient to explain or belittle the phenomena of a tropical del- 
uge from a seemingly limited cloud, and gravitation is at 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. . 257 

fault in the suspension in light air of the millions of tons 
which descend from apparent mist. • 

The clouds fairly weep over our presumptuous sciences; 
and under the pelting of their tears I strove to possess my 
soul with patience regarding the mystery of the rain, and, 
with the truly wise and learned Job, to put my hand rever- 
ently on my mouth before the power of Almighty God, and 
still ask, with the inspired writer, " Hath the rain a father ? 
or who hath begotten the drops of the dew ?" I almost be- 
lieve that our sciences are sufficient for the phenomena of 
Nature in her gentler moods ; but they fail to explain when 
the tornado overturns temples and rends armadas ; when 
the imponderable electricity thunders in the clouds, and shat- 
ters to dust the rocks and man's proudest monuments ; when 
the influences of creative power in the earthquake play at 
town-ball with continents, and bowl the isles of the sea as a 
child's marble. At such displays of power, we fall from our 
learning upon an " inscrutable Providence," or say, " excep- 
tional phenomena in no way affect the fixed laws of sci- 
ence," etc. Gravitation brought the rain to the deck, I ad- 
mit; but what sustained the enormous flood against gravi- 
tation ! The captain concluded that the torrent was the 
breaking of a water-spout ; but this, again, was taking refuge 
in a name explanatory of nothing. Pray what is a water- 
spout ? 



258 NimiOD OF THE SEA; Oil, 



CHAPTER XXII. 

"Water-spout described. — Query: Effect on Newton's Theory.— =-Kanaka 
Hymns. — Stupor and Gloom. — The old Woman's Curse. — Flying-fish. — 
Dolphin. — Albicore a sign of Whales. — Angling for Albicore. — Poison- 
ous Fish. — Influence of the Moon on Fish and Men. — A benevolent 
Enemy. — Scrimshoning and Pigs. — The Pig as a Pillow. — Man-of-war 
Hawk. — Strange Companionship at Mast-head. 

Gosse, in his "Wonders of the Great Deep," says: 
"These are perhaps the most majestic of all those' works 
of the Lord and his wonders of the deep' which they behold 
' who go down to the sea in ships !' They frequently appear 
as perpendicular columns of many hundred feet in height, 
and three feet or more in diameter, reaching from the sur- 
face of the sea to the clouds. The edge of the pillar is per- 
fectly clear and well-defined, and the effect has been com- 
pared to a column of frosted glass. A series of spiral lines 
run around it, and the whole has a rapid spiral motion, which 
is very apparent, though it is not easy to determine whether 
it is an ascending or a descending line. Generally the body 
of the clouds above descend below the common level, join- 
ing the pillar in the form of a funnel. Much more constant 
is the presence of the visible foot, the sea being raised in a 
great heap with a bubbling and whirling motion, the upper 
part of which is lost in the mass of spray and foam which is 
driven rapidly round. • The column or columns, for there are 
frequently more than one, move slowly forward with a state- 
ly and majestic step, sometimes inclining from the perpen- 
dicular, now becoming curved, and now taking a twisted 
form." 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 25i> 

This is about the sura of our knowledge of water-spouts. 
Let us suppose that Newton had seen columns of sea-water, 
as spirals of glass three feet in diameter, ascending to the 
clouds, instead of that noted apple falling from a tree. Que- 
ry : Might not his reflective and ingenious mind have worked 
out a different theory of gravitation ? And would not the 
schools have been just as well satisfied? Much of science 
might be different had that gifted Englishman, instead of sit- 
ting in his orchard, observed nature in a mast-head watch 
on some South Sea whaler. 

Jan. 17. Until yesterday the weather continued wet, dis- 
agreeable, and squally, quite contrary to the idea that the 
Pacific is pacific. But this morning is calm, sunny, and beau- 
tiful in the extreme. From the forecastle-deck the voices 
of the Kanakas are heard in hymns of praise and thanksgiv- 
ing, in airs familiar to my ear. Their voices are not remark- 
able, but their time is admirable. I account for this in the 
fact that it is in recitative and chorus that their histories 
and traditions are preserved and handed down. By the aid 
of an interpreter, we have added much Hawaiian lore to the 
old-fashioned yarns of our forecastle. I might almost say 
that their chant has replaced the rollicking fun and instruct- 
ive discourses which prevailed before our unfortunate visit 
to the islands. In consequence of uncongenial surroundings, 
I feel very lonely and restive. Only three foremast hands 
in our watch speak English, and but one with whom I can 
speak on subjects other than those of our passing life. The 
yarn, the song, and the skylark are seldom heard charming 
the hours and banishing the drowse of the nightwatch as of 
old. The books of oijr library are of such a class as only to 
increase the gloom and melancholy. A few books of worth 
would serve much to brighten the dark, long, lone path 
which opens before us. But cast on my own resources, I 
may be weeding tares from my garden, and growing truer to 



260 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

ray own nature. Who knows? A whale-chase to stir us 
from this deadly stupor would be a Godsend. 

Jan. 20. Once upon a time there was a sailor, and his 
name was Jack, and Jack was beloved and loved. Yet 
Jack, with the inconsistency of the winds, and the fickleness 
of the sea — for it is the sea and the winds that form the 
sailor — changed his love and went to sea. Then his Polly 
raised a wail, and fell back on her mother for comfort. Her 
little heart was to the full of bitterness, and she said, " May 
Jack and his ship sail always in a gale of wind!" But her 
knowing old mother said : " Nay, my daughter, under such 
luck Jack would get all snug under close reef, and lay at his 
lazy length under the lee of the long-boat, and spin yarns 
about the gals ashore. Wish him variable, light winds, with 
constant rain, and keep him box-hauling the yards in a wet 
jacket." Some old lady's curse is close after some incon- 
stant heart aboard this ship, for such is our weather. Rain 
every night, is the order of the day, as an Irishman would say, 
and we bless all old women in return for their maledictions. 

In these seas, as the ship plows her way, flying-fish in 
great shoals rise from under the bows, and sail away to 
windward, in flights of fifty or more fathoms. The broad 
spread of their silvery fins, with their blue bodies glittering 
in the sunlight, present a spectacle beautiful as singular, 
even to the accustomed eye. Perhaps no fish excite more 
interest in the mind of the voyager than these little spark- 
ling gems of the deep water. They are an almost constant 
presence before the moving ship. The dullest sailor and 
the least observant passenger will pause in their occupation 
to watch their flight, and will await with interest their com- 
ing on board, as they are eagerly pursued by dolphin, albi- 
core, or skip-jack. When thus chased, they sometimes fly 
over the lee bulwarks and fall on the ship's deck, sometimes 
striking as hig-h as the fore or main sail. Naturalists are 



THE A3IERICAN WHALEMAN. 



not agreed as to whether this is a prolonged leap or a flight. 
I should call it a flight, for the reason that the distance cov- 
ered is so great that no possible velocity acquired in the wa- 
ter could carry them through the air without additional im- 
pulse from the broad wing-like fins. Again, the flight is to 
windward when the fish is free to choose, that is, against 
the greatest resistance; and it is not in a straight line, but 
curves very considerably, especially toward the end of the 
flight. A leap, we would suppose, would continue in a 
straight line, as in the case of the long-leaping dolphin and 
other leaping fish. It is observed that the flying-fish touch- 
es the surface merely long enough to moisten the wings, 
and its motion through the air is certainly attended by a 
vibratory motion of the fins, if we may judge by their glit- 
ter in the sunlight. The general opinion with us is, that the 
flight continues so long as the fins remain moist and tracta- 
ble, for the flight is especially prolonged in cloudy or rainy 
weather. The formation of the tail is such as to preclude 
the idea of its giving an impulse sufficient to carry the fish 
three or four hundred feet through the air, and to attain the 
altitude of the hammock nettings of a frigate. Moreover, the 
great fins, however closely folded to the body, must prove a 
serious impediment to motion in the water; and for this and 
other reasons we believe they actually fly, and are in. reality 
as well as name flying-fishes. 

The dolphin, or coryphene, is the most active and deadly 
of its marine enemies. It pursues the flying-fish by immense, 
and rapidly repeated leaps in the air, and its darting motion 
furnishes a fine contrast wi£h the waving, uncertain flight of 
its timid prey. The pursuing fish streams through the wa- 
ter like a streak of azure light ; so rapid is its motion that 
the form of the fish is lost to the eye, and it launches in the 
air, in a high, arching, exceedingly graceful bound of thirty 
or forty feet. Then, dropping into the sea for an instant, it 



A62 NIMIiOD OF THE SEA; OB, 

again shoots into the sunlight after the palpitating sparkles 
which flit before it. Thus the distance shortens, and as the 
exhausted flying-fish drops into the waves this beautiful sea- 
tiger seizes them. 

In observing the motious of these and other fishes from 
the mast-head, whence the eye is enabled to penetrate to con- 
siderable depths in the water, it seemed to me that the mo- 
tion of the flying-fish alone provoked the pursuit of the dol- 
phin and albicore ; for we have noticed that in calms, or when 
the ship has had little headway, the shoals of albicore would 
swim lazily about the ship, or lie almost motionless di- 
rectly under the flying-fishes, without noticing them. The 
latter apparently escaped attention by lying motionless with 
the wings partially extended, as though dead. Doubtless, 
one of the causes of the albicore's flocking about vessels 
in such great numbers is that their motion throjugh the wa- 
ter alarms their prey, and causes it to betray its presence 
by flight. These fish accompany the whale for like reasons, 
and their presence is considered a good sign of whales on 
cruising -ground. The pilot-fish precedes the shark or a 
running vessel. The albicore also seek the presence of the 
ship as a protection against their most deadly enemy, the 
sword-fish. The habit of sea-fishes, of congregating fre- 
quently in immense numbers about ships, is the source of 
a welcome supply of food to the crews. 

The capture of these magnificent fish, thus herded and 
driven to our hands by the wolfish sword-fish, afforded a 
fine field for the exercise of my angling propensity. For 
tackle I had a hundred yards of three-stranded line, careful- 
ly twisted and laid by my own fingers ; a large cod-hook, the 
shank mounted with a revolving plate of mother-of-pearl, and 
wings of white muslin, which made a very pretty flying-fish. 
Time, whenever the ship had a good breeze, and on a wind, 
so that the line would be carried well out to leeward ; posi- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 263 

tion, the head of the jib-boom ; method, pay out as much line 
as the wind would waft, say fifty ov sixty yards, and with skill- 
ful play skip the shining lure in long flights from wave to 
wave, as the ship dashes on her course. Now, with a thou- 
sand or more albicore, some forty or fifty pounds in weight, 
gleaming in a sea rivaling the blue of the sky, we await a 
rise ; the fly skips twenty feet at a flight-; a great albicore 
breaks for it, and with splendid leap falls a few feet short 
of the hook. As you hope for a supper, don't be tempted 
to humor his disappointment and slack your motion to wait 
for him ! if you do, he will turn from the passive fly ; but, 
rather, by a vigorous jerk, send the hook ten feet in the sun- 
light, and fifty feet forward, and your sure prize will fall a 
few inches short of taking it in the air. Do your pi-ettiest 
to keep the bait in swiftest motion and away from him, with 
splash, dash, and a flying leap. He will be under it when it 
just tips a lifting wave, and the hook will be deep buried 
in his throat. And what a strike it is ! The ship is speed- 
ing onward through the crested waves, carrying a " bone of 
foam in her teeth." You are swaying on the spar, thir- 
ty feet above the swift current, aud your prize, with the 
strength and vim, and triple the leap of salmon, at the full 
run of your line, is tugging, and glancing in and out of the 
water, and giving you full-handed play for the next half- 
hour. With hands armored in horn, case-hardened by oar 
and rope-haul, you may hang on without the running-lines 
cutting to the bone. Fathom by fathom you gain line; 
yard by yard you lose. Hope and fear, hard work and royal 
sport, until, amidst the shouts of the excited lookers-on, you 
toss a gleaming mass of blue and silver on the deck weigh- 
ing, perhaps, sixty-four pounds. And all hands and the 
cook may help themselves to the dry, chippy flesh you have 
taken. The breast is passable, but the rest is generally 
thrown to the sharks. This is a portrait. 



264 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

■ I present to you also an attempt to portray the dolphin, 
an attempt to render graceful form and radiant colors in 
lines of miserable white and black. The picture is the shad- 
ow only of a creature so beautiful, that no art can convey to 
you the reality as it basks in tropic seas, or sweeps in arch- 
ing leap under a brilliant sun. To-day we took one on hook ; 
it was nearly four feet in length, of much depth, but scarce- 
ly thicker than my hand. It was pronounced unfit to eat, as 
a piece of silver was tarnished by the flesh when cooking. 
This test is applied to these fish whenever cooked, as in- 
stances have occurred of crews being poisoned by them. A 
belief prevails among seamen, by-the-bye, that all fish are ren- 
dered poisonous by exposure to the moon's rays, and that 
their flesh becomes phosphorescent in a short time when thus 
exposed. The moonlight is said to have a still more malign 
influence on man, and it is also asserted that to sleep with 
the face exposed may cause a permanent distortion of the 
features. No seaman, therefore, sees one of his mates sleep- 
ing in the light of the queen of the night without kindly 
kicking him in the ribs, or pulling him by the heels into the 
shadow. A hard old salt was once observed to lay a mon- 
key-jacket over the phiz of a bitter enemy, benevolently re- 
marking as he did so, " I owe you a licking, you 'tarnal crit- 
ter, when I git ashore, and I want to know you when I ketch 
you." 

Jan. 23. The sky is clear, with fresh winds. We are now 
regularly cruising, with not enough to do to keep a man off 
a growl. As this habit only cankers the soul, I prefer to 
scrimshone. Odd minutes are now employed in the rigging 
of a little brig. She is carved from a piece of the beautiful 
California cedar, hollowed out neatly, and sheathed in planks 
of black whalebone, the port streak being of white bone from 
the sperm-whale's jaw. The masts and spars are of the same 
material. The blocks are of pearl-shell, carefully ground and 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 265 

polished, and it is my intention, as time is nothing, to give her 
every appointment of a brig above deck. Her shrouds are 
now neatly ratlined up to the top-gallant head, and some of 
her yards are across. In scrimshoning, we carve and work 
much in the ivory of whales' teeth, and by inlaying with 
pearl, some beautiful objects are wrought. Handsome canes 
are made of the white bone from the broad pan of the jaw 
.of younger sperm-whales ; also from plates of black whale- 
bone, heated and twisted. 

Heretofore the pig has been described by me as only the 
source of sea-pie, but it has another claim on our attention. 
The pig is naturally a big-hearted, affectionate creature, and 
by no means lacking in intelligence. He is easily attached 
by kindness, and clean enough on board ship, where there is 
no mud to wallow in. We have two pigs that are quite petted 
by the hands. We don't understand all they say, but they 
talk away to us in every imaginable variation of chuckle, 
grunt, and squeal, and I imagine their vocabulary is al- 
most as copious as the Kanaka. But after sea-pie, the chief 
comfort we take in these good-natured porkers, is to convert 
them into pillows for a snooze on deck, and for this occu- 
pation they are admirably adapted in consistence, form, and 
disposition. It is wonderful how complaisant they become 
under the influence of a well-applied scratch from the horny 
nails of their human deckmates. By a vigorous rasping 
along the bristles of their backs their confidence is secured ; 
by a tickling behind the ear and a gentle push we lead them 
to a secluded nook beside the bowsprit-bitts ; and a little 
more scratching thrills their very hearts, and with a grunt 
of satisfaction they will place their soft, warm sides in a 
most convenient position for the head. So piggy and Jack 
pass to the land of dreams. 

Jan. 24. A person Of observing mind is thrown much on 
his own resources in the tedium of the idle cruise, and is led 

12 



266 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

to watch and weigh every object that appears. I have been 
much interested in a constant attendant on the ship in our 
offshore cruisings — the man-of-war hawk, or frigate-bird. 
This beautiful creature is one of the common but most re- 
markable birds which frequent the tropical seas, at points 
most distant from the land. Its plumage is of the densest 
black, relieved by a bright red patch of naked skin on the 
side of the neck. Its length is about thirty inches, with a. 
spread of wing about six feet. It has a strong hooked beak, 
much longer than the eagle's, and its feet are devoid of the 
usual web of water-fowls. We never observed it alight or 
dive in the sea. It frequents desolate shores and islands 
during the breeding season, but during a great part of the 
year we believe it is constantly on the wing. I may remark 
of this, inhabitant of the air, that no other bird offers such 
favorable opportunity for close study of their habit of flight. 
In the many hours which the bird and I have spent, one swing- 
ing and the other soaring a hundred and fifty feet in the air, 
diverse and strange questions were suggested. The flight of 
my feathered attendant is exceedingly easy and graceful ; at 
times it may be seen balanced in mid-air, its head alone be- 
traying life by its motion; again, with outstretched wings, 
soaring kite-like over and around the mast-head, approach- 
ing and receding, sometimes just outside of the arm's reach. 
It is fearless and will sweep in graceful circles, without the 
apparent motion of a feather. At such moments it is evi- 
dent, however, that there is a vibration of the quills, as a dis- 
tinct rustling whisper is heard, as of the folds of silk in a 
lady's dress. It has been observed that its bones, in common 
with other long-flighted sea-fowl, are large in diameter, thin 
and light in structure, as compared with the bones of land- 
birds, and are hollow, instead of being filled with marrow — 
simply cylindrical air-chambers, in fact — light in weight, 
but strong. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 267 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

New Theory of the Flight of Birds. — The Bird a Balloon. — Adventure with 
a Shark, and a Man in Danger. — Questioning Darwinian Theory. — 
Grinding Crow-bars 'to Sail-needles. — A Gam of Whales, and five killed. 
— A Ten-barrel Whale and Boat stove. — Death boards us. — A sad and 
suffering Death-bed. — Lowered for Whales. — A dead Shipmate, and Re- 
spect for a dead Body. — Funeral at Sea, Sperm-whales attending. — In 
a Region of small Whales. — Pets of the Ship, Cats; Monkey, and his 
Love of Eggs. 

The hawk arid I talked this matter over at the mast-head ; 
and these are some of the suggestions it made : If the en- 
larged bones be filled with air, then the buoyancy of the 
body is not increased, for the air -filled space simply dis- 
places an element of equal density. The buoyancy of a fish 
is made greater by a bladder of air, in which a lighter dis- 
places a heavier element. The caverns in the bones have a 
purpose, however, as have the cellular structure of the shafts 
and the plumelets, and the great cavities of the body. At 
length a thought came in explanation of the wonderful 
power of suspension. As fish are endowed with a power to 
supply their sound-bladders with air from the water, may 
not my companion be able to command an element much 
less in specific gravity than the air it displaces? Such an 
element is hydrogen, an element found in its food, as air is 
found in water for the purposes of the fish. And it is not 
a whit more surprising if the bird has power to assimilate 
the one, than it is that the fish has power to procure the 
other. Considering this bird as a balloon filled with hy- 
drogen, with muscular powers of dilation and compression, 
the phenomenon of its soaring flight is less a mystery ; for 



268 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OB, 

then its specific gravity might bear such relation to the 
atmosphere as does the body of the fish to the water. None 
who has seen the man-of-war hawk swoop from its lofty 
flight on to its flying prey, can have failed to observe its 
instant diminution in bulk by the close packing of its feath- 
ers, and the seeming contraction of its body, with the wings 
half shut to its sides. It descends with an arrow-like rapidi- 
ty, utterly different from its buoyant flight of the preceding 
instant, and both motions are performed without a move- 
ment of the wings. When it has seized the flying-fish in 
its talons, it again ascends into the air to devour its prey. 

At the fastest speed of a ship this bird will for hours sail 
around the man at the mast-head, with a rare stroke of the 
wings. At other times sweeping great spirals, it will soar 
until it is lost to the eye of the observer. Sailors aver that 
it is, sleeping and waking, on the wing for nine months of 
the year. It can not alight on the water, or rise from it if 
it should happen to fall. Here I leave it, with the remark 
that books in the libraries will show you what savants think 
on the points I have touched. I only write of what the sailor 
sees, thinks, and believes. I may add, however, the follow- 
ing description of the bird's power of inflation, given by 
Captain Wilkes, in his visit to one of the Coral Islands : 
"The number of birds was incredible, and they were so 
tame as to require to be pushed from their nests to get their 
eggs. The most conspicuous among them was the frigate- 
bird ; many of the trees were covered with their nests, con- 
structed of a few sticks. The old birds were seen, as they 
flew off, inflating their blood-red pouches to the size of a 
child's head, and looking as if a lai-ge bladder were attached 
to their necks." 

Jan. 31 (Sunday). Something in the air and the calm 
beauty of this day led many to remark upon it as the 
most delicious since we left home. Toward eveninsr the lit- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 269 

tie wind died away, and the ship lay becalmed. A party of 
swimmers went overboard for practice, and the result was 
that my poor name was nearly stricken from the roll of the 
Chelsea. Our Kanakas wei*e paddling, duck and porpoise 
like, about the ship, but I, foolishly, to show off my skill, 
went well outside the crowd, rolling, diving, and sporting in 
the calm sea. To my astonishment I saw the lookout at the 
mast-head motioning violently to attract my attention, and 
to come on board. Thinking he saw a whale or a breeze 
coming, I struck out leisurely for the ship, observing that 
the men were scrambling up the sides in an unusually lively 
manner. At the same time it struck my imagination that I 
heard the word " shark " from the mast-head, and I cast a 
furtive glance backward to see whether such an enemy was 
in my rear. But meeting no sign, I thought they w T ere play- 
ing a cruel hoax on me, and felt mad rather than frightened. 
I struck out strongly, making my length — a full fathom, and 
an inch added — at a stroke, and it was not until nearing the 
ship that I saw the captain take a lance in the quarter-boat, 
and beckon me to that point. Then my heart misgave me. 
Again I glanced over my shoulder, and still failed to see 
a dark fin furrowing the smooth surface. I was now so 
near the ship that I could notice the captain's eye fixed on 
a point slightly beyond me. Not a word was spoken ; the 
officers and my shipmates were standing watching the rapid 
approach of the lone swimmer, stroke by stroke, the best art 
of swimming in full play. My eye was on the captain's, as 
he stood, lance in hand, to 'cover my approach. I could now 
trace the motion of the pursuer by the slow turning of the 
watchers' heads. I came in a direct line between the old 
man's eye and the object it was directed to ; yet I felt that 
it did not see me. I held my breath at that moment, as I 
awaited the flashing break of the water beside me, and the 
appearance of a wide, ravenous mouth. Gathering courage, 



270 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

I cried to myself, " Don't think, but swim — swim for dear 
life, for those who love you, for the future, so beautiful, so 
hopeful ; strike out, and don't let the leaden heart sink you." 
Three strokes more — two strokes — and I was under the 
boat. The keen lance was now gleaming just overhead, and 
I felt safe under the sure aim of that trained hand. A bow- 
line was thrown by glad hands, and in a moment I stood 
panting, almost fainting, in the chains ; below me, in the 
blue water, the shark. "All right ; thank you, boys," I mur- 
mured. " I only want breath." And all hands resumed duty, 
my adventure having added a drop to the tide of events in 
the Chelsea's cruise. 

The Kanakas seem to be in their native element in the 
sea. I was told that some of them leaped from the rail to- 
day, and passed under the keel, coming up on the opposite 
side. " Jack of Maui," with serious face, tells us that bad 
Kanakas dive and steal their neighbor's fish-hooks, when 
fishing in deep water. Now, a pearl hook is the result of 
much patient labor, and such a prize might tempt a lazy angler 
to take to deep water to obtain one. A favorite story of Mr. 
F 's humorously illustrates the patience of these people: 

An old Kanaka, trading with some ship, had set his heart 
on a sail-needle ; but the supply having run short, he was 
denied. He saw a crow-bar, however, and went to the cap- 
tain, and made trade for this, as the nearest fulfillment of 
his want. After a cruise the vessel returned, and the crew 
found the old fellow patiently grinding away his bar with a 
piece of pumice-stone, in the hope' of ultimately working the 
coveted needle out of it. But his heart was worried by his 

inability to get an eye into it, after all. Mr. F said that 

the production of one of their beautiful pearl hooks, with 
their simple appliances, required a degree of patience well 
illustrated in the grinding of a crow-bar to a sail-needle with 
pumice-stone. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 373 

Feb. 9. At 2 p.m. we raised a school of small whales ; at 3 
we lowered waist-boat, went on and fastened to a cow. The 
rest of the school brought-to around her, and in a short time 
each boat was fast to its own whale. The captain put a 
lance into the life of a loose whale, and she went into her 
flurry before the others were killed. For a time the scene 
was truly exciting. The whales kept close together, and at 
times, one or more of the boats were beset by the bewilder- 
ed creatures. They seemed to have lost their wits, and lay 
about, heads and points, not often using their flukes. Five 
were killed, and three hauled alongside by dark. The other 
two were lost during the night. All were small cows. The 
only peculiar incident of the day was the thorough bringing- 
to of the school. A great number might have been killed 
had we got among them earlier in the day. 

Feb. 10. The whales caught yesterday are so small that 
it seemed almost like working around black-fish in cutting 
them in. At noon the bodies were stripped, and the heads 
hoisted in on deck. They will not make more than fifteen 
barrels each — much less than is sometimes bailed from the 
case of one good whale. While Ave were heaving in the last 
head whales were raised close aboard. The mate's boat was 
badly broken by a little fellow, afterward killed by the third 
mate. Our boat picked up the swimming crew and brought 
them on board. As we had the cutting-tackle rove, we cut 
in to-day's whale before supper, and hoisted the head on 
deck beside the three others. It would be a fine chance for 
a student of comparative anatomy to determine questions of 
great interest in the structure of these great masses. After 
supper we lighted the try-works on very thin blubber, and 
will cut the heads to-morrow. One of our men, named 
Beers, is very ill. He came from America with us, and has 
been acting steward since the Selango desertion. He has 
been off duty since we came into this trying climate. 

12* 



274 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

Feb. 12. 

" Shadows to-night 

Have struck more terror to the soul of Eichard 
Than can the substance of ten thousand soldiers 
Armed in proof." 

It fell to rae to watch the bed of our sick man. He was 
stowed on a narrow shelf in the pantry, scarcely wider than 
his body, with a rough board ledge to prevent him from 
rolling off. So narrow were the quarters, indeed, that his 
dying face and mine were only separated by a few hand- 
breadths. It could not have been known that he was so ill, 
for he has been unattended, until unable to help himself. I 
was sent, with my utter want of experience, to smooth the 
way for the poor fellow. He was delirious seemingly, but 
unable to speak, and his parched, swollen tongue protruded 
from his mouth. His emaciated face presented a sad spec- 
tacle. At a guess I mixed a lime-juice drink, and moistened 
his tongue and mouth, and bathed his head with vinegar and 
water. This seemed so grateful to him that I also bathed 
his body and limbs : presently he drank, and seemed refresh- 
ed, and became easier. I thought of calling the captain, but 
remembering from experience the scope of our medicine- 
chest and treatment, I considered poor Beers past such bru- 
tality. After a time he recognized my face, so near his own, 
and gasped, " O God ! Bill, you don't know how hard it is to 
die, as I am dying, so far from home and kindness." The 
little I could say, I said, and I ventured words of hope of a 
home and kindness nearer than he thought. Soon he went 
off in a delirious dream, and kept repeating the words, 
" How lonely ! how lonely !" And the thought of being cast 
overboard in the unfrequented sea pressed on his mind con- 
tinually. Reviving a little, he murmured, " How lonely to 
go down into this sea where no man has been buried ! And 
if, as the sailors say, the sea has no bottom, I'll sink, and sink 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 275 

forever. Oh, how lonesome I will be here ! If it was on 
the offshore, I'd find the company of a thousand who have 
gone before. But no ships ever come here." 

Thus for hours the poor boy raved, and I sat helpless, 
trying to soothe and aid him. All I could do was to hold 
him from rolling from his narrow bed ; and as I sat and min- 
istered according to my means, in that dark, noisome closet, 
I almost cursed the inhumanity which could consign a man 
to such a sick-bed. It was the same coarse tow-cloth bag 
filled with rye-straw in New London fifteen months ago. 
The air we breathed was laden with the effluvia of the dy- 
ing man, and the stench of bilge-water, tarred cordage, and 
refuse food. A tin plate holding an untempting, untasted 
meal, and a quart cup from which the patient was drinking, 
completed the hard, cruel picture. As I looked into the poor 
boy's eyes a feeling of savage, unutterable hardness came 
over me. I thought that in all animated nature a pervading 
fellow-feeling leads to sympathy and concern for the suffer- 
ing. Man alone seemed indifferent outside his own little 
class. At times in the lone night a fearful impulse stirred 
me, and I wondered if it would not be merciful to take the 
poor suffering boy in my arms and restore him to peace by 
dropping him, from the filth of his surroundings, into the 
pure, healthful sea. In his place, I should have prayed for 
such release. But such an act would be misunderstood. 
Hours passed until the dim light, when the solitude and the 
surroundings became more than I could bear; I hailed the 
deck and demanded relief. It came, and I devoutly thanked 
God for his pure air, as I went to the bows and sat in the 
sweet wind. From this time out death in the whale-boat 
will be endurable. 

At 2 p.m. we raised whales on the weather bow ; lowered 
the boats, and after a very hard pull, found that the school 
were as distant as when we lowered. Much disappointed, 



276 NIMROD OF TEE i>EA; OB, 

we gave in and returned to the ship. We had been on deck 
but a few minutes, when the captain, in an agitated voice, 
called for a couple of men to come below. Garvin and my- 
self ran below, and found Beers with his head hanging over 
the edge of his narrow berth, apparently dead. On lifting 
him into the cabin, he breathed a moment, and was at 
peace. 

~Now comes the strange part of my sorrowful story, show- 
ing the inconsistency of the queer mixture we are made of. 
The captain stood by that soiled, ragged remnant of human- 
ity, and wept, not a silent tear, but with child-like anguish. 
I can never know what that old man saw in this poor dead 
sailor. I could not read the memories of other dead which 
this may have recalled, but I respected the officer the more 
who could be thus moved by the sight of the poor boy. 
And we, his rough shipmates, yet wet from a chase, in which 
we might have wrestled with death tearlessly, we gathered 
up the sheaf in Death's harvest, and carried him to the quar- 
ter-deck, where we spread the ship's colors over him, backed 
the mainyard, and left him to sleep. We had been informed 
that while the boats were off, he came unaided to the deck 
and in his old voice hailed the mast-head watch to know 
where the boats were, and whether any were fast. When 
answered, he went below, and all alone, perhaps, he "babbled 
of green fields," and died. 

The next morning, with the dead weighing down the good 
ship and the spirits of her crew, a school of sperm-whales 
came close aboard, strange but fitting attendants at the 
funeral of their enemy. The event struck us all as very 
remarkable, and appealed strongly to the natural supersti- 
tion of the credulous sailor. At no time during the voyage 
had whales approached thus close to the ship, or manifested 
such indifference to her presence. " Respect for the dead," 
the captain said, " forbids the thought of lowering the boats." 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 277 

And we leaned our arms on the rail, and wondered at the 
tarneness of our usually wild game. 

Strange inconsistency ! Consideration for the living would 
not for an instant have restrained the captain ; probably not 
to save the life of Beers would he have allowed the boats to 
remain on the cranes with whales so near. He had been 
habituated to risk his own and other lives almost daily, and 
can and will thrust five souls, with himself at the head, into 
the valley of the shadow. But when the divine spirit has 
fled with the breath of life, leaving nothing but an unsightly 
casket, he stands reverentially before it, almost afraid of the 
slightest sound. At 8 a.m., lat. 1° 13' S., long. 145° 32' W., 
we placed our shipmate in the blue water, the captain read- 
ing the funeral service from the Episcopal ritual. As the 
white canvas form passed from sight in a broad undulation 
of light, his words of the nightwatch came to my mind : 
" How lonely, so far from home and kindness !" Yet I know 
that such thoughts do not now concern him. Assuredly he 
is in better company than he left. 

We then braced forward; the mast-heads were manned, 
and a sharp lookout kept for the whales that tempted us in 
the early morning; but they were lost to us. 

Feb. 15. We stowed down the oil of the last four whales. 
They made but sixty-five barrels, which brings the voyage 
up to seven hundred and fifty barrels. We are evidently in 
the region of small whales, and the herds of this sea are al- 
most entirely composed of cow whales and their calves. We 
have not seen a bull whale lately. Is it possible that we are 
intruding on their lying-in hospital and nurseiy ? May it be 
that it is among the Coral Islands of these seas that the 
females retire to bring forth their young ? Captain Covill 
thinks that the Philippine Islands are such a resort, as he 
has there seen calves so young that their flukes seemed 
scarcely unfolded. Thirty degrees east of this, or in long. 



278 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

110° W., we find bull whales again, frequently whole schools 
of young bulls without a cow among them. Still farther 
east, or in long. 90° W., we find schools of cows, accom- 
panied by the bull whales. Near Japan, and off New Zea- 
land, very large whales abound. 

As I have bestowed some attention on the pigs of the 
ship, it is proper that mention should be made of other an- 
imals who share ojir wandering life. We have two cats of 
the species called Tom. The one rules the cabin and the 
other the forecastle mice ; while 'tween decks is the dark 
and bloody ground where both join in nightly brawls and 
caterwauls. The fine sense of smell in the cat is well shown 
by their detecting the presence of flying-fish in the chains. 
Almost immediately after these fish strike the side or deck 
of the ship the cat will come from below, and, by its mo- 
tions, persuade us to climb over the rail and get the stunned 
fish for a meal, it being understood that the flying-fish that 
come on board are the cat's perquisites. Except in fine 
sunny weather, when there is no spray to wet the deck, our 
mousers rarely venture on deck, and below they have rather 
a miserable time, between the oil and the tar. 

Senora Villamill's monkey is the mischief-maker of the 
ship. He delights in tormenting the cats, and spends much 
time in watching the nesting of our two game-hens. His 
idea of supreme bliss seems to be to bury his comical face 
in the broken end of an egg, and we find amusement in ob- 
serving his calculated movements to gratify this taste. He 
has closely studied fowl nature, and knows to a minute the 
time and place of the precious deposit; and in spite of the 
watchfulness of the steward, captain, and chanticleer, every 
now and again he may be seen running up a stay, with an 
egg deftly carried under one arm, to be deliberately emptied 
of its contents in some inaccessible part of the rigging. It 
has been a favorite game of the tailless monkeys against the 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 279 

tailed one, to hide an egg in the tar-pot, under the eye of the 
interested watcher. At the first opportunity the little brute 
would abstract the prize and run aloft with it. Of course, 
by the time he had eaten it he was in a pitchy mess ; and as 
the tar dried in the air, his long slender fingers adhered to 
the rigging, and his matted hair stood on end like quills on 
the fretful porcupine. The only cure was to dip him in oil 
to soften the tar, and allow his miserable monkeyship to 
gradually recover his original shape and appearance. 



280 AUMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Game-cock as a Time-keeper. — Cockroaches in an Economical Point of 
View. — Medical Practice adapted to Working-men. — Fancies, and Sick- 
ness on Board. — Cure for Scurvy. — Captain Mathew's Story of Boiled 
Eggs. — Extravagant Use of Butter and Sugar. — Etiquette of Meals. — 
Want of the Same on the Forecastle. — Grub, and Manner of Serving. — 
Coral Island seen. — Small Whale, and Stove Boat. — Wash-day. — An- 
tonio as Washer-woman, and Chemical Experiments on him. — Grand In- 
cantation and Appearance of Satanus. — We make Sail for the Islands. — 
Trade-winds. 

The Spanish game-cock is a time-keeping phenomenon. 
The usage of his kind, from the time of Peter the Great, 
has been to crow at or about eight bells, or 4 a.m. — an easy 
thing at any fixed point, but it becomes an affair of adjust- 
ment in a ship running east or west, and changing her me- 
ridian constantly. Remember, that for every degree of lon- 
gitude a ship runs, her time is changed four minutes. Now, 
we took the cock on board at the Galapagos, long. 90° W., 
and carried him to the Sandwich Islands, in long. 160° W., 
a difference of seventy degrees, or a time difference of four 
hours. Some days we made four degrees of longitude, and 
set forward the watch sixteen minutes ; yet the cock would 
keep the time, and crow at or about eight bells, or 4 a.m., 
at the western, as he had at the eastern islands. Doubt- 
less, one might circumnavigate the globe with one of these 
birds, and his " shrill clarion " would wake the morn at his 
accustomed hour, making or losing an entire day with the 
ship. This is not accountable to the appearances of the 
coming day ; for the time will be kept in the high latitudes 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 281 

where the nights are so short that four o'clock conies after 
the rising of the sun. 

Feb. 27. Is it true that conscience makes cowards of us 
all ? The men are still under a nightmare fashioned since 
the death of Beers. The " doctor " insists that he has seen 
a pale lambent light hovering ove^r the chest of one of the 
men. The man himself is very ill, and takes it into his head 
that he is dying of Beers's disease ; but as he did not see 
the case, he is at a loss to describe the symptoms. I find it 
good medicine, when he complains to me, to say, " That's not 
at all the way Beers felt ;" and he will be better until he goes 
off on another tack. But symptoms don't count in our sim- 
ple practice. Upon " all the ills that flesh is heir to " we 
open our attack with a dose of glauber, or horse salts, which 
takes such a strong hold on the patient that he is bound to 
confess that we are doing something for him. It may hap- 
pen that the patient grows worse, and a dose of castor-oil, 
to work off the salts, is the next resource. He takes hope 
in the moving evidences of the medicine; and the more he 
endures the more he hopes. Should oil fail us, the ulterior 
of our modern healing art is to administer a rousing dose of 
calomel, with the intention that this shall work off salts, oil, 
and itself. In severe cases we repeat the entire course, and 
either kill or cure. 

Our second mate is also sick, and has not stood his watch 
for several days. It may be imagined, then, that we are not 
at present a cheerful crew. I am loath to think that it is a 
fear of death that demoralizes our men. I rather think it is 
a shrinking from the unnatural prolongation of suffering, 
and the gloomy attendants of a death-bed, since we do not 
shrink from death in the boat. It may be that the terrible 
depression that has settled upon us arises from scurvy taints. 
The captain seems to think so, forte called us aft this morn- 
ing, and made us tuck under our flannel a glass of glauber 



282 NIMROD OF THE SEA ; OR, 

salts, and an equal measure of pure lime-juice. This dose 
was to "work off" scurvy: it seemed like swallowing a 
saw. 

Speaking of eggs, and captain, monkey, and man greedily 
watching at the nest for them (as I did a few pages back) 
recalls a yarn spun by Captain Mathews, of New Bedford. 
When he sailed as boat steerer with Captain Blank, the stew- 
ard placed three eggs by the old man's plate at breakfast 
one day. The superior looked at them a while, with the cor- 
ners of his nose turned up suspiciously. " Halloo, steward !" 
he growled, " didn't I tell you to boil some eggs ?" " Them's 
eggs, sir." "Them's eggs, sir!" mockingly said the irate 
chief, "I'll egg you, you scoundrel! Call three eggs eggs, 
do you ?" " Eggs for the captain — you — sir !" " And where 
is eggs for the men? None, eh? Well now, just you tell 
me what mean cuss you have been sailing with ?" " Captain 
Lucius, sir." " Captain Lucius ! Well, you are worthy of 
him. He'll reach Fiddler's Green through a Galapagos ter- 
rapin ; but just you don't forget that when you boil eggs, or 
any thing else for the cabin table, boil for all hands, and place 
in the middle of the table. If I don't get my fair share, it's 
because I don't want it. Now clear out, and boil some 
eggs." 

This story of Captain Mathews's grew out of a discussion 
as to the different qualities of fare provided in the cabins of 
various whalers, and the old man went on to say, "It's not 
that captains are always hard and mean by nature, but they 
have been brought up with such men as Captain Lucius, and 
really believe that the way is to be stingy on deep water." 

" Why, Captain Mathews," said one, " you don't let the 
boat-steerers come to your table just as you leave it, do 
you ?" 

" And why not ?" he asked. 

" Well, it's extravagant, to say the least, to leave butter 



THE AMERICAN. WHALEMAN. •• 283 

and sugar, when molasses will serve for both. I always tell 
the steward to put molasses in place of them." 

Said Saint Mathew, " Such an order would ache me worse 
than rheumatism, and my butter would breed dyspepsia." 

" Look here, Captain Mathews, that kind of talk's all very 
pretty ; but, your owners will bring you up with a round 
turn some of these days, for pampering your men with but- 
ter and sugar, and such menavelins." 

" I'll take care of that,, sir, as I am an owner myself ; and 
the others have the sense to feel safer in the venture because 
I don't shift grub on my table." 

This anecdote illustrates some of the different views that 
are held about the proper kind of food for sailors. 

The etiquette of meals on board* ship is very amusing to 
,Jack at the helm. The order of procedure for dinner is 
somewhat in this wise : The sun's altitude has been taken, 
and eight bells struck. The captain is pacing the weather 
and the mate the lee quarter deck. The second mate is 
somewhere or other, but surely to windward of the third 
mate. All hands are as hungry as wolves. The steward 
comes up the companion-way, and touching his greasy Scotch 

cap, announces, " Captain B , dinner is on." "All right;" 

and the captain takes a turn by the binnacle, if we are run- 
ning a course, and peeps at the compass. Then in the com- 
panion-way, on his way down he stops, takes a long look at 
the sails, and, as it were, a last farewell of the light of heav- 
en. " Mr. F , dinner is on." " Ay, ay, sir," says the 

mate, as he strolls to weather-deck. Now Mr. F takes 

a shorter peep at the compass, and, pausing in the compan- 
ion, he, too, takes his upward survey. The two other mates 
go through precisely the same performance, only according 
to their respective ranks they take yet shorter peeps at the 
compass and glance heavenward. They then arrive simul-. 
taneously at the table, to find the captain and Mr. F lei- 



384 NIM1WD OF THE SEA ; OR, 

surely in their second plateful. Now, the misery of the ar- 
rangement is in this : the officers must come up in reversed 
order — third, second, first mate, and lastly the captain. A 
third mate has thus only about seven and a half moments to 
dispose of his grub. The old man last of all appears on 
deck, picking his satisfied teeth in the most tantalizing man- 
ner, and the four boat-steerers next make a dash for the ta- 
ble, and make clean sweep of the remnants. 

With the men there is less formality — in fact, no formali- 
ty at all. A tub, called the meat-kit, is provided ; one for 
each watch. Into this is dumped the boiled pork and beef, 
and into another similar tub, the unpeeled potatoes, rice, 
beans, and whatever dessert there is. With fingers for 
forks and a belt sheath-knife, each fellow pitches in, mauls, 
turns, picks, and cuts for the choicest bit, transfers the mess 
to his tin plate, and sitting on hatch, windlass, terrapin's 
back, or bread-kit, proceeds to discuss his grub, ungrateful- 
ly swearing all the while at owner, captain, and cook. . The 
coffee in the morning, and the tea at night is served in buck- 
ets, and a quart cup is a usual allowance, unless the man be 
thirsty, when a half-gallon is not denied. The difference 
between the tea and coffee is less discernible by the taste, 
than by the difference in the texture of the grounds. I al- 
ways thought that the tea most resembled a weak vegetable- 
soup, floating grease being somewhat more apparent on it 
than on the coffee. But both decoctions are dished boiling 
hot, and this is their chief recommendation, inasmuch as the 
heat is pretty sure to dislodge any of the white bread- 
worms, say an inch long, which may lurk in the soaking bis- 
cuit. Its after-warmth, moreover, softens the bread, so as 
to save teeth in the eating. After meals each fellow slips 
his plate into the netting over his berth, and the cockroaches 
. see to it that his crockery is clean for next meal. 

We are keeping a sharp lookout for land, as a small low 



• THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 385 

coral structure, called Hero Island, is located on our charts 
near our present position. 

Feb. 28. At 2 p.m. "Land ho!" from the mast-head told 
us that we had reached Hero Island. Although but six 
miles away it was not visible from the deck, but by even- 
ing we were nearly up to it. It appeared a low, flat spit of 
sand: 

"A coral island, stretching east and west ; 
In God's own language to its parent saying, 
' Thus far, no farther shalt thou go ; and here 
Shall thy proud waves be stayed.' " 

Such growing islands as this, right athwart our track, add 
much to the dangers of the devious, drifting cruise of the 
whalers. Can one conceive the horrors of wreck on such a 
spot, out of the way of possible aid and rescue ? We have 
not seen a ship in these seas. The grave responsibilities 
streak the hair of officers with early frost. For instance, 

there is Mr. F , who was married just before we sailed. 

Young and brown-haired then, he promises to return to 
complete his honey-moon a gray-haired man. 

March 2. After two unsuccessful chases this day, in a 
third we took a miserable little ten-barrel whale, and that 
at the expense of a broken boat. Mr. Burroughs went on 
and had the side of his boat laid open by the flukes. The 
second mate came up and killed the whale. Mr. F fail- 
ed to fasten. Two small whales rose under his boat, and 
lifted it clear of the water. He cried to the men, "Hold 
your'irons !" but when the boat touched water again things 
were so mixed on board that the whales were out of reach 
before the irons were recovered. Therefore, we must grease 
up for two small casks of oil. 

March 5. This is washing and mending day. The oily 
clothes which have been soaking in a solution made of the 
alkaline cinders of the try-works, are first well tramped on 



286 



NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 



deck with our bare feet, and then attached to a line and 
towed overboard in the wake of the ship. Thus the dis- 
solved oil is worked out; after which, by a judicious expo- 
sure to six hours' napping in the wind, much of the other 





A STOVE BOAT. 



dirt is also disposed of. A clean beast is defined as one 
that cheweth cud and has a cloven hoof. I chew the quid, 
but have not the cloven hoof, and in consequence may be 
called an unclean beast. I certainly abominate washing- 
day ; but by a wise use of part of my store of tobacco, I 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 287 

have secured the services of Antonio, the Portuguese, to 
keep me clean. 

Antonio recently took advantage of his importance, how- 
ever, and became somewhat extortionate in his demands. 
He raised his price two " nigger-heads " of tobacco a week, 
and I decided to show him the superiority of mind over 
brute force, with the aid of Posey, and Ichabod, our mon- 
key. Antonio comes from Cape Verd, and is a zealous 
Catholic and a firm believer in the devil. In reply to 
some of his pious twittings, about a " heritico," I suggested 
that we should raise the old boy, and see who could best 
stand his assaults. He assented, and I went to work. My 
materials were calculated to produce something like the 
witch scene in "Macbeth," although they consisted simply 
of a bottle of phosphoresced sweet-oil and the monkey. The 
words of the incantation were to be recited from the tragedy. 
I counted largely, however, on the effect of the latter gentle- 
man's illuminated tail. The Kanakas and Antonio were in- 
terested spectators, when all preparations were complete, al- 
though they lost much of the beauty of Shakspeare through 
ignorance of his language. The night was a little rough, 
and the darkness of the forecastle, with the creaking of 
timbers, the gurgling of the well water, and the deep-drawn 
sighs of my hidden confederates — the two cats tied tail to 
tail in the hold — produced a very theatrical effect. In the 
weirdest voice I could control, I mumbled, 

"Double, double, toil and trouble, 
Fire burn and caldron bubble. 
Weary seven nights, nine times nine, 
Shall Antonio peak and pine ; 
Though this bark can not be lost, 
Yet it shall be tempest-tossed." 

Now the wizard's face glowed with a pale flickering flame, 
and the mysterious monkey was thrust forward, with his lit- 



288 NIMEOD OF TEE SEA; OB, 

tie tail gleaming hell-fires. The rattling of a chain by Posey, 
and a few brimstone matches, came in appropriately at the 
same time, while I continued : 

"Double, double, toil and trouble, 
Fire burn and caldron bubble. 
For a charm of powerful trouble, 
Like a hell-broth, boil and bubble ; 
Double, double, toil and trouble, 
Antonio burn, Kanakas bubble." 

By this time I was almost as ready as the frightened au- 
dience to see "Auld Clootie himsel' " peering through the 
darkness between decks; and all hands scampered up the 
ladder to escape the sulphurous fumes which Posey was in- 
dustriously generating, clanking his chain at intervals mean 
while. He said afterward that the effect was splendid, seen 
through the opening into the hold, through which he thrust 
the phosphorized monkey. The peace of mind of poor An- 
tonio was destroyed. Formerly he only believed in his Sa- 
tanic majesty; now he knows of him. I must in mercy ini- 
tiate him into the virtues of a horse-shoe to avert the malign 
influences of bogies, spooks, and other evil beings. 

March 6. The repairs of the stoven boat have been the 
main work, and knotting yarns and picking oakum the rec- 
reations of the watch on deck. The captain has been trying 
his hand on a rawhide rope, or rather whip-cord plait, for a 
wheel-rope. The sailor is no match for the farmer's boy in 
working rawhide ; the little I had learned stood me in good 
stead to-day in helping the captain to a neatly-plaited rope. 
To-day we are in lat. 2° 24' S., long. 156° W., only one degree 
east of Hawaii. The current here is so strong to the west- 
ward that we have made but one degree eastward, after 
steadily beating for two months, the drift of the night under 
short sail setting us back all we made by day. It is in these 
ocean rivers, where the food of the sperm-whale is gathered, 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 289 

that these animals collect to pasture. By the establishment 
of the regular watch to-night, and our putting on top-gallant 
sails, we are informed that the present cruise is over, and 
that we are bound for the islands to recruit. It is full time, 
for the old crew are in a worn condition, and incapable of 
the best service in the boats ; and pains in the bones, loss of 
color and elasticity in the muscular flesh, and ugly blue spots 
on the legs are evidences of scurvy among them. 

March 7. The weather in the morning Avas mild, calm, 
and showery. Great numbers of porpoises were playing un- 
der the bows, and we darted the iron into one ; but the weap- 
on drew, and the injured creature fell back among its com- 
panions, who make short work of relieving the suffering. 
Such, at least, is the belief among sailors. 

At about 11 p.m. we entered the north-east trade-winds by 
a well-defined line. South of lat. 5° 40' N. we experienced 
calms, alternated with squalls and sudden puffs, accompanied 
by a great .depression of our spirits and lassitude of body. 
It is a hopeless, doleful region, where whales are very small 
and hard to get. We thanked God audibly when the clean, 
bracing north-east wind struck our sails and laid us almost 
on our beam-ends — so sudden was it. We handed top-gal- 
lant and gaff-top sails, and hauled close to the wind, but we 
could not lay a course for the Islands by three points, and 
must work a traverse to gain the weather-gauge. It is 
guessed that we may make the Sandwich Islands in about 
twenty days. 

13 



290 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OB, 



CHAPTER XXV. 

"St. Elmo's Fires," close Examination of; Superstitions on. — Longfel- 
low and Shakspeare Versions. — Phosphorescence of the Sea. — Riding 
the Gale aloft, and ravishing Sights. — Second-mate Sick, and Reconcil- 
iation. — Killer Whales, and Modes of Attack: unsuccessful Chase for 
One. — Boat-mending, and Flying Squid. — Plenty of Fish, and Jib car- 
ried away. — Approaching Land, and Smell of the Land. — Land Dead 
Ahead, and the Mystery thereof. — The Reason of Man proved equal to 
the Instinct of the Bird. — Hawaii in Sight. 

Lsr the middle watch of last night, in the murky damp of 
this climate, the "ampizant" was seen on the boom-irons of 
the main and maintop sail-yards. These are globular lights, 
about the size of a man's head, with well-defined outline, and, 
as seen from the deck, gleaming with a peculiar and super- 
natural light. This phenomenon is known in the books as 
" St. Elmo's fires ;" but the common term on board is the 
" ampizant," or composants. The fires continued so long, and 
burned so steadily, as to excite speculation and the supersti- 
tions of the men. Antonio remembered the fearful incanta- 
tion scene, and had no hesitation in holding that there was 
some connection between the two mysterious lights alow 
and aloft. Being curious to observe these lights from a 
nearer point, and willing to keep up the character of the nee-, 
romancer, I went aloft and crawled out on the mainyard-arm, 
somewhat cautiously I confess. When I reached the fire 
and my eye was brought close to it, the appearance changed, 
and the edge only of the iron was luminous, as though rub- 
bed with phosphorus. The halo was lost to me, although 
the men on deck said it remained unchanged to them. On 
touching the spot with the hand, cautiously, I thought that 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 291 

became luminous also, but I was not conscious of any sensa- 
tion other than that caused by the natural coolness of the 
iron. Those on deck said the ends of the fingers presented 
luminous points while the hand was on the iron. A super- 
stition prevails that the ampizant is the visible presence of 
sailors who have died on the ship ; and with this theory in 
my mind, I thought of Beers, and his lonesome grave, from 
which we were creeping. As I placed my hand in the light, 
I acknowledge that my flesh crept a little. My shipmates 
explained the impunity with which I had shaken hands with 
a ghost to the care I had taken of the dying man. If their 
idea is right, it only goes to show that nothing is lost in mer- 
ciful actions. But Antonio says that no good can come to 
me from touching a bogie. 

It is also a common belief that the fires indicate the ap- 
proach of bad weather; but our barometer has suffered no 
change during the existence of the phenomena. 

Longfellow says : 

"Last night I saw St. Elmo's stare, 

With their glimmering lanterns, all at play 

On the tops of the masts, and the tips of the spare, 

And I knew we should have foul weather to-day. 

Cheerily, my hearties ! yo heave-ho ! 

Brail up the mainsail and let her go, 

As the winds will, and St. Antonio." 

Shakspeare leans more to our opinion of the spirituality of 
the fires, as will be seen in this passage from the " Tempest :" 

" Prospero, Hast thou, spirit, 

Performed, to point the tempest that I bade thee ? 

"Ariel. To every article. 

I boarded the king's ship ; now on the beak, 
Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin, 
I flam'd amazement ; sometimes I'd divide, 
And burn in many places ; on the topmast, 
The yards, and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly, 
Then meet, and join." 



292 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

While the seas and skies have their frowns and portents, 
they have also their smiles. One of the most beautiful phe- 
nomenon attending a passage in these latitudes is the phos- 
phorescence of the water. To attempt a description of this 
must be more or less futile, for many words of brightest 
meaning fall still short of the sparkle of a star. Many 
times the wake of the ship is a broad belt of pale yellow 
light, far as the eye can follow it. The whirling eddies are 
almost aflame, and they fade in the darkening distance into 
a nebulous light. Tbe infinite sea surrounding is a fit set- 
ting to the brilliant coruscations. The combing break of 
the waves flashes like sheet-lightning on a summer's night ; 
and as the cresting flame of the head-sea is scattered by the 
bows, its spray falls in drops of fire on the watch, and the 
scuppers gleam with stars run wild. Deck, sea, and sky are 
illumined with myriad points of light, of rivaling brilliancy. • 

On one occasion, after hauling out a weather ear-ring for 
a close reef in the foretop-sail, I paused as long as other du- 
ties would permit, to drink in the ravishing sight which, with 
torrent speed, was rushing beneath me. The whole sea was 
wild with broad sheets of light under the tossing of the 
gale; the spray from the wave-caps was as a shower of fire- 
works, and the bows and head-gear of the ship were illumined 
from the watery light under the forefoot. Two hundred 
feet to windward, and holding a course parallel with ours, 
was a magnificent finback whale, the minutest outlines of 
its great form defined in light, as though it was of burnished 
gold. His spOut, given in a tumultuous sea, sent a stream 
of fire half-mainyard high. And I saw how grand and re- 
splendent whales may be in each other's eyes as they disport 
in the phosphorescent seas of the tropics. At last I felt 
compensated for the innumerable heart-sinkings and cold 
sweats of apprehension I had endured, and I drank into my 
inmost memory the lesson of the power and grandeur of a 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 293 

gale of wind as seen from the swinging yard of a tossed 
ship at sea. 

The lights are revelations of the teeming life which crowds 
every foot of this vast ocean surface ; but that is all I know. 
In the absence of knowledge, I am content and happy to look 
on and admire, while something whispers in my ear, " Such 
are God's ways on deep water." 

March 16. Since my last writing we have had the trade- 
winds, strong and steady, and we have had to keep close-haul- 
ed all the time. The steady pitch of the ship becomes tire- 
some; and oue begins to mistrust, lest fastenings yield, and 
starting planks let in the hungry sea. Our true oak and iron 
hold yet, however, and the faithful fibre of the hemp tugs 
and strains. The leagues and degrees are left behind, and 
the curious atdhis in command eat and drink, work and sleep, 
and in patience take the buffets of outrageous fortune, with- 
out varying from the aim which launched them in their un- 
dertaking. 

The continued illness of Mr. S may still farther add 

to our misfortune, and the fear is growing that he may be 

unable to accompany us on the Japan cruise. Mr. S is 

an excellent boat-header, and since the unfortunate mutiny 
he has been all that could be desired, treating the miserable 
remnants of a splendid crew with every kindness and con- 
sideration. Had he left America in the same temper that he 
bears to-day, we might have continued our offshore cruise, and 
carried to Japan twelve hundred barrels of oil. This would 
have brought us home within the three years for which we 
shipped ; but now a fear prevails that a year may be added 
to the contract time. But I apprehend that good to some 

future crew will come of it; for when Mr. S sails as 

master, he will not lightly incur the pains and penalties of 
mutiny on whaling ground. 

Nine shivering grunters have been added to our swinish 



m NIMROD OF THE SEA; OB, 

family, and so we have pillows galore, with prospects of 
countless cea-pies. 

March 18. For two clays the weather has been stormy, 
with occasionally vivid lightning and distant thunder. Much 
of the time we ran under close-reefed top-sails, and had all 
we could stagger under. A sharp lookout is kept for the 
high peaks of Hawaii ; and to-day the wind is lighter, and we 
run lander full top-sails. Heavy banks of clouds to the west 
shut off the distance. This morning we saw a school of the 
small whales called " Killers," which some writers affirm kill 
both the sperm and right whales. I should suppose that 
the sperm-whale is invulnerable to the attacks of this crea- 
ture, and is abundantly provided for defense in its active 
jaw, aside from its provision for deep sounding, which would 
carry it far beyond the reach of its so-called enemy. But 
the right whale may be exposed to its attacks. Right-whale 
men assert that it has been observed to thrust its head into 
the mouth of a dead whale towed by boats, and tear out 
great pieces of the tongue; and they assure me that the 
tongue of the living whale is the part vulnerable to the at- 
tack of the killer. It is declared that when the right whale 
is swimming with its great lips opened as in feeding, the 
head of the enemy is inserted into the mouth and fastens 
upon the tongue. One can imagine that if this fierce animal 
once fastened its sharp teeth in the great oily tongue of the 
right whale, the latter might be as powerless to shake off its 
antagonist, as an ox with a bull-dog fastened to its throat. 
In vain might it close the elastic bone of the jaw on the 
smooth armor of its enemy; in vain cut its formidable flukes 
to strike its inaccessible assailant; and breeching would be 
impossible, with tons of weight pendent from the mouth. 
Moreover, the killer would be equally at home beneath the 
surface ; and if sounding were possible, the assailed whale 
could not thus shake off its antagonist. The contest is said 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 395 

to end in the death of the greater whale, and its enormous 
tongue becomes the food of the victor. It is also affirmed, 
that when the buoyant tongue is removed, the right whale 
sinks through the weight of the bone in the head. I in- 
quired from my informants whether they had ever found the 
wounds or scars of conflict on the tongue of the right whale, 
and they had not. And, rather than give up their pet theo- 
ry, they insist that every whale thus attacked is killed, and 
every whale thus killed sinks, never to rise again. 

The captain lowered his boat, and gave chase ; but the 
roughness of the sea, the erratic movements of the killers, 
and their short risings, prevented our getting on. They 
manifested no fear of the boat, as they rose and rolled about 
it, giving us a good chance to observe them at some distance, 
but evading closer examination. The killer is considered 
the most beautiful of the medium-sized whales. Their form 
is slender, and they are agile and graceful in their move- 
ments. They are of a jet black, as polished and lustrous as 
satin. Near each eye is an oval spot of pure white, large 
enough to form a marked contrast with the general color. 
A cirneter - like fin on the back projects above the water, 
and is a conspicuous object as the graceful creature glides 
about. 

Captain B , to his other accomplishments, adds that 

of boat - builder, and he is now engaged in mending and 
painting a battered boat, to put on the Hawaii market in 
exchange for refreshments. Such craft are in great demand 
at the Islands, and from past tinkerings this one has become 
too heavy for our purposes. From repeated accidents, all 
our boats are somewhat dilapidated, in fact ; but it is won- 
derful to see the restoration of a shattered boat under the 
hand of a skillful workman. If the keel and gunwales be 
not broken, the splintered wreck will be right and tight in 
a few days. For this purpose a store of light cedar-boards, 



296 NI3IR0D OF THE SEA; OR, 

and ready -bent timbers are carried in the ship; and the 
boats are of such simple construction that they are easily re- 
paired. 

-During the late stormy weather, numbers of the beautiful 
flying squid came on board, leaping fairly over the weather 
rail, or striking the outside, and falling stunned in the chan- 
nel. Vast flocks of them were seen, darting from the water, 
and making long leaps from wave to wave, with a motion 
swifter and more arrow-like than that of the flying-fish, but 
with much shorter flights. Those that came on board were 
six or seven inches in length, with eight arms, provided with 
suckers along their length, and two tentaculae. The prevail- 
ing color was a glassy white and azure, with a bright emerald 
green over each eye. 

The flying-squid are considered a dainty bit by the albi- 
core and skip -jacks; following these we see more sword- 
fish than Ave have heretofore met. Great flocks of boobies 
and gannets also hover in the air, and share the feast of 
squid with the swarming fish. Our Kanakas were wild 
with excitement at this exhibition of their favorite food, and 
exclaimed enthusiastically, "Pehe nui nui 3 mibi" — plenty of 
fish, very good. 

March 20. A squall struck us yesterday and burst the 
jib. We reefed top-sails and kept a sharp lookout for land ; 
which we raised directly ahead to-day — a dim outline away 
up in the sky, soon melting and lost in the haze of the horizon. 

The glad cry of "Land ho!" came sweetly enough from 
the mast-head to us tired wanderers of the blue waste. You 
who dwell on the firm land and see the verdure of the earth 
every day, can never read the full significance of the joyful 
sound. Its interpretation to us is liberty, health, enjoyment, 
and the companionship of our kind. You who have never 
been long separated from the good-giving ground, can never 
know the smell of the land, the fine aroma that greets the 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 297 

sense of the sailor on his return from the open sea — the per- 
fume exhaled from the mosses and ferns, the grasses, the 
flowering shrubs, and the shading forests. It strikes the 
senses of the hungry children of the sea, as the fragrance 
of the mother's milk strikes the little baby. The rugged, 
storm-beaten man, with softened feelings, welcomes the fa- 
miliar influences under which fie was born ; but the thrice 
welcome airs of the distant continent, grateful as they are, 
yet make him faint and sick with thoughts of home and 
kindred. 

The odor guides us to our haven, as the scent of the wa- 
ter attracts the camel in the desert. But other senses than 
that of smell are cognizant of the far-reaching influence; 
for to the scurvy-stricken mariner it comes as the curse of 
Prospero : 

' ' I'll rack thee with old cramps ; 

Fill all thy bones with aches ; make thee roar, 

That beasts shall tremble at thy din." 

A crisis in this disease being induced by this mysterious 
land essence, is soon followed by recovery or death. 

To the question from the deck, " Where away lies the 
land ?" " Dead ahead" is the answer. 

Again let the sailor question you — you who lose your way 
on fenced roads, and rush along iron tracks which clamp 
you in the path you should go. Let me ask, can you re- 
alize the full significance of the answer " Dead ahead," after 
months of drifting on trackless seas? Of course the sought 
land will be " dead ahead " on the course of the frigate-bird, 
for it is piloted by that God-given-compass guide, an uner- 
ring instinct; but how happens it that yonder speck of land 
is dead ahead to the weather-stained waif of the sea whose 
wanderings you have followed in these pages ? Our white- 
winged lady sails, endowed with the wonderful inventions 
of men's minds. With the magnetized finger of steel to 

13* 



298 NIMH OB OF THE SEA; OB, 

point the course; with the faithful chronometer to preserve 
the time of Greenwich ; with the nautical almanac to give 
the positions of named stars for years in advance ; with the 
quadrant and the sextant to measure altitudes and take 
meridians; with the mysteries of the logarithm to resolve 
the calculations ; and with the chart of the earth's surface 
before him, the sailor to-day, as the shepherds of old, may 
find his way to a haven of sure rest by following the mo- 
tions of a star in the east. Though seeming lost on the 
trackless ocean, by observing the meridian of the sun, our 
rough old captain has stuck a pin in his cunningly-lined 
chart,- and given us a course — "North-by- west-half -west, 
and steady at that." And, although months have intervened 
since we saw a plain or a mountain peak, and although thou- 
sands of leagues have been traversed, we to-day have learned 
that that reason the good God has endowed us with is more 
than equal to the instincts of my mast-head companion, the 
frigate-bird. Yet I have met those who, in the safety of 
home, have said to me, "A chance rules ;" " There is no God." 
Poor souls ! What power not of God could plant that some- 
thing which guides alike the bird and the man in the dark- 
ness and storm, through the immeasurable loneliness of the 
seas, to the land and home?" 

At sunset the cloudy outline had taken definite form ; the 
grand volcanic dome of Mauna Kea stood out against a 
glowing sky, and as the last rays of evening light lingered, 
the snow and ice of that lofty mountain gleamed in the 
heavens as a beacon, fourteen thousand feet above our heads. 
As I sat in the bows and drank in this glorious scene, I felt 
the presence of infinite power and majesty. 

I doubt whether there is another spot on earth so grand- 
ly calculated to inspire the artist with a sense of magnitude, 
as the entrance to the straits which divide the island of 
Hawaii from Maui. This passage is about twenty miles 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 299 

wide. On the right tower the heights of Haleakala, rising 
precipitously ten thousand six hundred feet, and topped by 
an extinct crater five miles across. On the left, by a series 
of terraces, is the volcanic Manna Kea, fourteen thousand 
feet high, and crowned by an active crater of twelve miles' 
extent. In most mountains the spectator must rise far 
above the level of the sea, from which their altitude is meas- 
ured, before he sees the peak ; but here you stand on the 
' sea level, and look right up the whole ascent. And from 
the grand old fire-points again you may look straight down- 
ward and over the level sea. No other spot have I seen in 
which creative power is exhibited in such overwhelming 
proportions. 



300 NIMROD OF THE UFA; OR, 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Coasting the north Side. — Natives fishing from flying Canoe. — Native 
Trade. — Native Songs, and Tradition of Love of Pele for Kameha- 
meha. — Conflict between the Chiefs of Hawaii and Maui, and Fete of 
Swimming. — Kealakeakua Bay the Scene of Cook's Death. — Our Anchor- 
age. — Three beautiful Boys, and my Hycamee. — A profitable Invest- 
ment. — A naked Kanaka civilized from the Breech upward. — Liberty 
on Shore, and a Feast. — Cooking described. — Place of Burial.— Taboo, 
and the peaceable Dispositions of the Children. — The Mothers diving for 
Shells, and Emulation. — Inability to take Shore Exercise. — Surf-board, 
and wonderful Skill of the Natives in Swimming. 

March 22. As we ran along the. north side of the island 
of Hawaii, its appearance was very rugged and uninviting. 
Immense fields of black lava flanked the base of Mauna Kea, 
without a spot of verdure. In places this lava seemed to 
have poured over the precipitous rocks some hundreds of 
feet into the, sea. Three or four miles from the shore, there 
were some trees and bushes, and the mountain heights 
seemed covered with forests. Above all, towered the great 
dome, with snow visible in large fields on its side. Great 
numbers of streams of water fell from the high cliffs into 
the sea, making white lines against the dark lava. As we 
ran through the straits, we reached the western, or lee side. 
This was more fertile, judging by the greater growth of 
trees and bushes, and the land was more level. On the west- 
ern flank of Mauna Kea are extensive table-lands, on which, 
the Kanakas say, herds of wild cattle find pasturage. These 
belong to the king, and their sale adds to the very limited 
royal revenues. In some parts of the island the trees must 
be of great size, as a double canoe swept past us to-day, in 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 301 

which there were forty paddlers, although the craft seemed 
made from a single log. As we were now under the lee of 
the land, the winds became light and baffling. Opposite 
Kirua we observed several double canoes fishing. They 
were moved swiftly by a large number of naked Kanakas, 
who timed the quick stroke of the paddles with a chant and 
chorus. All we could see of their tackle was a swinging 
pole, seemingly worked by guy-ropes. This arrangement 
seemed to work with ease and certainty, for we saw them 
swing numbers of large fish to the platform between the ca- 
noes. Shortly after, a number of the natives came off in 
their outrigger canoes, bringing bananas, bread-fruit, pine- 
apples, nuts, cane, shells, etc., to trade for iron hoop, knives, 
needles, hooks, and tobacco. We were somewhat immoder- 
ate in our indulgence, as it had been months since we had 
eaten of fruits or fresh vegetables, and the craving for them 
was irresistible. 

At the set of the sun the shore natives were warned off, 
and the cook made us a nice supper of fish and fresh vegeta- 
bles, the captain having procured onions and sweet-potatoes 
for his half-sick crew. When the night settled on the deck, 
Jack of Hawaii was inspired by his island home, and, sur- 
rounded by the Kanakas of the watch, he sang of the glories 
of Kamehamehaj the great war chief of Hawaii. The history 
of this chief is known to most English readers, and it is not 
for me to touch upon it; but the chanted traditions of the 
common people are not so well known. I caught such scraps 
of the chant, through the interpretations of Waheleheli, as 
led me to regret that I could not understand the whole. 
The bard sat on the bowsprit-bitts, surrounded by his com- 
rades squatting on their heels, and accompanying the reci- 
tative with a modulated "ha-ha-be-ha," and a curious wav- 
ing of the spread hands, at times bringing the palms to- 
gether with a clap. Voice and motions were in absolute 



302 NIMEOD OF THE SEA; OR, 

accord, as our tall, dark-featured Hawaiian went on with his 
story : 

" Kamehameha, the solitary chief, the strong man, the 
dweller on the side of Mauna Kea : he was loved by Pele, 
the goddess of the flaming mountain, the dweller in the heart 
of Mauna Loa : twin mountains of fire, Mauna Kea at the 
rising of the sun, Mauna Loa at the going down of the 
day. On Kea lived the lone man ; on Loa, the lone woman. 
He was a stranger to his own great heart until he read of 
it in the eyes of Pele, who loved him for his power. And 
Pele whispered to Kamehameha, 'It is I who bring the 
mountain islands from the heart of the world ; my hand 
brings the sacred fire through the waters, and the fiery lava 
through the deep seas, and mates homes for my people. At 
our feet is rebellious Maui, and Lanai, and Molokai, with 
Oahu, the land of sweet taro; and beyond all is fiery-hearted 
Kauai. I will make of these a throne for my loved one. 
Will he seat himself in it, and rule my children with a 
strong hand ? Will he guide them wisely, that war may 
not stain my lava red with the blood of my children, red 
as it ran from my fiery home.' And Kamehameha said, ' I 
am one man; with the love of Pele I may melt the mount- 
ains, and turn the hearts of the people from blood. If she 
will guide me, I will wash the stain from the throne which 
she brought in flame through the deep waters.' " 

Such was the cause that led Kamehameha from his mount- 
ain fastnesses, first to conquer the great island of Hawaii, 
and afterward, through a fierce war, to bring all the remain- 
ing islands under his rule. And the bard sang of how the 
terrible warrior of Hawaii met single-handed the great war 
chief of Haleakala, armored in his cocoa shield, and with the 
knotted war-club in his hand; how Kamehameha, standing 
naked, with folded arms, in the prow of his war canoe, or- 
dered his rowers to advance on his armed opponent, stand- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 303. 

ing in the shoal waters of the shore; and how, with the love 
of Pele in his heart, Karaehameha slew the war chief of 
Haleakala, and conquered the island of Maui. He sang also 
of a time when the war went against Kamehameha, and the 
sons of Haleakala burned his war canoes, and he was cut off 
from the help of the people of Hawaii, and driven to the 
mountain which overhangs the narrow sea. He could look 
down into his home, but his people could not hear his voice, 
and they knew not the peril of their chief. Then two chiefs 
came to Kamehameha, and said, " The darkness of the night 
is on the deep water, and the storm-winds have driven the 
canoes, of Maui from the straits. "We will swim to that near 
land, and bring thee help." And through the darkness of 
the storm, lighted by the broad torch of the volcano which 
flamed fourteen thousand feet above them, they were guided 
the twenty miles which separates the islands; and their 
chief was saved by this act of devotion. 

Such were the noble themes we listened to beneath the 
lofty mountain peaks of the Pacific, and under the broad 
glow of Pele's torch. 

It was not until the afternoon of the 23d that we dropped 
anchor in Kealakeakua Bay, the scene of Cook's death. 
After furling sail, and getting the decks cleared of rigging, 
the trading Kanakas were allowed to come on board, with 
fruits, shells, tapa cloth, etc., which were offered in ex- 
change for articles of iron. These people are sharp enough 
at a bargain, and the equals of our sailors in taking care of 
their end of a trade. The chief advantage we had was that 
our iron would keep while their stuff was perishable. A 
curious mistake was made soon after we came to anchor, 
which caused considerable merriment among the men. In 
a canoe floating a short distance from the ship sat three 
Kanakas, of great beauty, carefully covered with folds of 
ornamented tapa, and their long hair decorated with feath- 



304 NI3IROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

ers and flowers of brilliant colors. I took it for granted 
that I was looking on those ideals of female loveliness por- 
trayed in the descriptions of early voyagers. Knowing that 
a wise law forbade M r omen to visit ships at anchor in any of 
the Hawaiian ports, I beckoned them to come alongside, as 
I meant to drojD them a fish-hook, as an offering to their 
graces. I was simply prompted by an innate love of the 
beautiful, for " I love all that is lovely, love all that I can." 
The canoe shot alongside, when, dropping their tapa man- 
tles, to my intense disgust three splendidly formed young 
fellows, with the agility of monkeys, scrambled up the side 
and stood beside me. All of them exhibited muscles that 
might have wrung my neck on provocation ; and I would 
have kicked them, had it not been for my Welsh veneration 
for three as against one. So I reluctantly gave them the 
three hooks I had exhibited. 

About an hour before sundown, when the deck must be 
cleared of strangers, a giant, one-eyed Kanaka, laden with 
fruit, approached me, and said something in Hawaiian, his 
single eye beaming with jolly good-will meanwhile. Wahe- 
leheli said, in explanation, " He verry much good Kanaka ; 
he hycamee friend you ; you hycamee friend him ; he give 
name you ; you give name him ; you takee pig, fruit, house, 
eberry ting ; he takee shirt, white shirt. All good ; old way 

here." Mr. F told me that a friend would be of use on 

shore, and that Waheleheli had interpreted truly the custom 
implying exchange of names and possessions for the time 
being. The white -man's name, and a white shirt or two, in 
brief, would be accepted as a full equivalent for the use of 
all the Kanaka's possessions during the few days I should 
have ashore. I struck hands with Kakilolo on this bargain. 
I became Kakilolo, and he Davikhee ; he gave me all his 
fruits, and I gave him my white shirt. He had to place at my 
sole disposal all his worldly possessions, personal service in- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 305 

eluded, in further consideration of another shirt, Or its equiv- 
alent, before the ship sailed. As I was to get much, and he 
little, naturally for a white man and a brother, I said "Miti" 
— good. So Davikhee drew the linen over his ugly mug ; and 
■to complete the picture I gathered the fluttering garment 
around the waist with a bright red bandana handkerchief — 
a remnant of my shore toggery. The effect was ludicrous 
in the extreme. My giant Kanaka in his native nakedness 
was sublime, in this fluttering rag he was ridiculous. As I 
afterward noticed this flag of truce fluttering in the evening 
breeze, I hugged myself with the thought that I had ad- 
vanced a brother one step in the scale of civilization, that 
my Kanaka would never again feel decent with less than a 
cravat about his neck. 

These people greatly prize articles of American dress, and 
wear with pride such articles as they can obtain, regardless 
of fit or fitness. It is told that a chief headed a wedding- 
procession dressed iira naval lieutenant's blue swallow-tail 
coat, gilt buttons and all. This was not out of the way, per- 
haps, but except the mare, or breech-cloth, and a wreath of 
feathers about his manly brow, it was his only garment. 

Similar negotiations to mine had been going on in fore- 
castle and steerage, and the crew went to their bunks to 
dream of the good things in store. 

March 24. Starboard watch had liberty on shore. To 
provide against contingencies, I drew a couple of fathoms of 
bright figured calico from the slop-chest, and placed a few 
sail -needles and fish-hooks in my pocket. The larboard 
watch landed us on the south shore of the bay, in front of a 
cluster of grass huts, sheltered beneath cocoa-nut trees. A 
number of the natives awaited us. Among them was a pair 
of naked legs, surmounted by a fluttering white shirt, which 
combination claimed me at once as all his own. The friends 
of Chipps and Posey had clubbed with Davikhee to make the 



806 N1MROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

expected feast at the house of one of the trio, and we now 
went to inspect the preparations for the entertainment. In 
a hole in the ground, in front of my house, was a brisk fire, 
which had been burning for some time. A mass of living 
embers was on the bottom, and in the midst was a heap of • 
lava. This was the oven. A couple of small pigs, nicely 
cleaned of hair, a turkey, a large fish, and a liberal supply 
of potatoes and yams, were the contributions of our hosts. 
Very deftly, with a crooked stick, the hot stones were with- 
drawn from the embers, and the dust blown from them. 
They were then placed inside of the pig and fowl, and a sa- 
vory steam soon issued forth. The meat was next rapidly 
wrapped in broad leaves, and placed in the oven, which had 
been cleaned of most of the coals. The vegetables were next 
arranged, and the whole covered with the hot stones, embers, 
and leaves, a small quantity of water being jioured over all. 
A sweet smell of wholesome food arose, and held us hungry 
sailors to the spot ; but " the watched pot never boils ;" and, 
to facilitate the cooking, we tore ourselves away, and pro- 
ceeded to inspect the town. 

Many of the grass houses were in small garden inclosures, 
surrounded by loosely-piled lava walls. Within we observed 
patches of sweet-potatoes and yams, melons and pumpkins, 
with pine-apples, and plants which were new to me. Over- 
head was the cocoa-nut and a few bananas. The black lava 
soil seemed rich and productive. On the bluff fronting the 
bay, and separating the two towns, numbers of goats were 
seen, and pigs abounded, though we saw no horses or cows. 
Wild cattle are said to abound on the table-lands, however. 
In the face of the bluff, and at a considerable elevation, were 
numbers of small excavations. These, we were told, were 
once the burial-places of the people. The dead lowered 
from above were pushed into the caves, and left to the dis- 
position of Pele, who dwelt in the neighboring volcano. In 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 307 

front of a hut we observed pieces of tapa tied ai'oUnd some 
cocoa-nut and other fruit trees. This we were informed 
constituted a "taboo" of the trees; the effect of which was 
that no qne save the family who placed the taboo were al- 
lowed to touch the fruit. It appeared that the owner of 
the neighboring hut was sick, and unable to provide for him- 
self, and this simple means was resorted to, that he might 
not suffer from want. The religious observance of the ta- 
boo has been described by almost every visitor to the isl- 
and, and it is not necessary for me to enlarge on the singu- 
lar and interesting feature of society, farther than to say that 
the taboo is a sacred restraint, rarely broken. I have heard 
of streams tabooed that ships might water from them, and the 
sacred word would pass up to the sources by word of mouth, 
and no natives would wash their hands even in the running 
water. But I fear much that modern civilization will preach 
this simple restraint out of existence, and replace it with the 
less effective machinery of patent locks, courts, and peniten- 
tiaries. 

We were particularly charmed by a large company of 
small children, who were playing, naked as when born, on a 
shelving beach of sand, on Avhich the gentle swell was break- 
ing in miniature surf. The little brown beauties were from 
six months to six years of age. All were fearlessly playing 
in the water, at depths proportioned to their years ; dab- 
bling as naturally as young ducks, the elder having a watch- 
ful eye on the younger ones. "With great glee this guardian 
would roll a sprawling, choking youngster upon the sand, 
and by patting his shining back, enable him to cough and 
sneeze out the effect of a momentary submergence. I 
judged that all over fifteen months were able to swim, and 
take such care of themselves as was necessary in this shal- 
low water. Those younger were making fair efforts in the 
same accomplishment under the encouragement aud direc- 



308 NLUROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

tion of their elder playmates.- A very noticeable feature in 
the merry group, was the absence of all loud, discordant 
cries, angry exclamations, and evidences of a quarrelsome 
disposition. I am told that such is very rare ; and it rarely 
happens that the hand of one is raised in anger against an- 
other. The same peaceful disposition was wonderfully man- 
ifest in the ten Kanakas of our crew. In the three months 
they have been on board, there has certainly not been a 
quarrel among them; nor can I recall a harsh word between 
the poor heathen. But of us white and black Christians 
the same can not be said. The happy mothers of our little 
savages were swimming in the deep water of the bay, and 
diving for shell-fish, each having a long gourd anchored in 
her vicinity, into which she might drop such shells as she 
secured. 

We laid ourselves upon the lava ledges which overhung 
the beautiful scene, and the swimmers observing us, they 
with great shouting and splashing attracted our attention. 
A friendly competition then arose, in the exhibition of their 
skill as divers. A black-haired, black-eyed mermaid, more 
beautiful than the syrens of old, I'll be sworn, stood erect in 
the bright water, and clapping a pair of pretty hands grace- 
fully over her head, with musical cries strove to secure our 
special attention. Then, turning and undulating as a wave, 
her twinkling feet for a moment shot in the air, and the vis- 
ion disappeared long enough to cause us to hold our breath 
in sympathy. Arising at length, the pretty head, with long 
black locks all afloat, was again turned in our direction to 
see that we recognized her; and with clapping hands we 
cheered her and the other competitors. To show that their 
efforts were not in vain, they would exhibit the shells 
brought up, and, swimming to the gourds, deposit their 
prizes. 

After our long absence from the land, it is remarkable 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 309 

how little exertion we are capable of. As I ran up and 
down our lofty spars a few days ago, I thought over the 
probability of getting permission to penetrate the interior 
of the island, to scale Mauna Loa, fourteen thousand feet, 
and descend into its heart thousands of feet; to take a lava 
bath with Pele, and write a history of volcanoes in general, 
with a concise theory of earthquakes appended, and a top 
view of thunder-clouds. All this seemed as a good, honest 
day's work; heights and depths counted as nothing to my 
aroused imagination. Only put me ashore, I thought, and 
to scale the heavens or descend to hell will be but boys' play. 
But on shore, behold me ! Before my dinner is cooked, my 
poor scurvy-tainted limbs are sore and aching under me ; I 
am sitting, resting my prematurely old bones, on the rocks, 
singing " Well done !" to the poor shell-divers. 

When rested, we were attracted by the shouts of natives, 
and we sauntered to a point of rocks on which a magnifi- 
cent surf was breaking. Here we witnessed an exhibition 
of skill in swimming, in striking contrast with that of the 
women we had just left, and one perhaps to be witnessed no- 
where else. Here we found a large number of the natives 
enjoying themselves on the surf-board. It was a new sight 
to us to see men and women playing in a surf such as we 
would scarcely expect the natives of the water to live in, 
such as it is questionable whether the seal and the otter 
•could have contended against; and it was with some ter- 
ror that we watched them riding, with head inclined, on the 
crest of a foaming wave, with the speed of a bird. They came 
shooting forward, almost on to the terrible rocks, against 
which a preceding wave had broken in a deafening roar; 
but just as they seemed fated to strike the deadly barrier, 
just as they were on the very boiling suds of foam, the hap- 
py, shouting performers would disappear beneath the sur- 
face ; a moment more, and they would be seen buffeting the 



310 MM ROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

incoming roller, and diving to allow it to pass over them, 
bearing on its crests some of their playmates, and soon again 
they regained the outside of the breakers, pushing their board 
with them. Here they Avould mount the board again, to ca- 
reer once more over the frightful course ; and thus they played 
by the hour, far happier than beaux and belles in the ball- 
room. The wilder the surf, the more intense their enjoy- 
ment of it. The surf-board seemed about five feet long, and 
a foot wide, turned up a little in front. It was placed length- 
wise under the breast as they rode on the crest of the wave. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 311 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

Practicing Casts by a Disciple of Izaak Walton. — We come back to Din- 
ner, and join a Procession. — The Dinner in classic Style. — Visit from 
Governor Adams. — A great Man in Avoirdupois. — Second Visit Ashore. — 
Tapa-making. — Wyhenne in Search of Ideas, and her Disgust. — Cook's 
Monument. — Incident in the Fight, showing Coolness in the Natives. — 
We go Fishing. — Trolling from double Canoe. — Mr. Baldwin preaches 
on Board. — We weigh Anchor for Oahu. 

Returning from this wild and fearfully exciting scene, 
we noticed a young fisherman practicing the gentle art, but 
not with hackle or May-fly, or with the supple ten-ounce an- 
gle. Our naked Adonis stood on a projecting point, at some 
ten feet elevation, with a stout bamboo or reed of twenty- 
five feet, the butt supported in his crotch, and played with 
the right hand, Avhile the left manoeuvred the fish. From 
the outer end of the rod was a stout line equaling it in length, 
and baited with a dummy fish, made of a roll of tapa, about 
twenty inches in length. This practice is to acquire dexter- 
ity in landing the fish. It consisted of swinging out the 
fish to the extreme reach of the rod and line, and allowing 
it to rest a moment on the water ; then, with a dexterous 
backward surge of the rod, swinging the fish clear of the 
water, and bringing it directly under the left elbow, at the 
same moment passing the thumb of the left hand into the 
gill, and thus securing the fish. 

"We sat on the rocks admiring the precision with which 
the fish was brought forty feet distance, and securely plant- 
ed under the grasping arm of the angler. It was, in its 
way, as fine an exhibition of skill as the fly-fisher casting his 



312 XIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

feathered lure the same distance into the circle of wavelets 
left by a rising trout. When we examined the beautiful 
hooks of these islanders, we found they were not finely 
pointed, and the barb was ill fitted to hold a fish securely ; 
so they could not allow their game to play and exhaust it- 
self before it w r as landed. The practice of our angler was 
simply to convert the rush by which the hook was taken 
into a leap of forty feet, directly from the water to the 
hand of the fisherman. The people are so expert that few 
fish are lost that once take the hook. Indeed, they are con- 
sidered very skillful fishermen, whether with the rod, the 
deep-sea troll from the canoe, or with the nets. Fish is a 
favorite dish with all classes, either cooked or raw, the latter 
being preferred. 

Tired with our interesting ramble, and fairly wolfish in 
appetite, we returned to the town. At the outskirts we 
found our hosts awaiting the party. They conducted us to 
the oven, which was now uncovered ; the still warm stones 
were carefully removed, and the potatoes and yams were 
placed in a deep calabash and covered with fine grass, to 
keep in the heat. The outer wrappings of the animals were 
charred and brittle. These were removed until the inner 
leaves were reached, and the latter were next placed in 
broad, flat gourds, surrounded by some of the hot stones 
from the bottom of the oven, and covered closely with grass. 
A gourd filled with the milk of cocoa-nuts, and an acid 
drink of limes or lemons, completed the preparation. It 
had been determined that we should all dine at the house 
of Chips's host, that being the largest and most commodi- 
ous. Our friends, with the assistance of some attendant 
KanakaSj therefore mounted the dishes on their heads, and 
proceeded in single file to the appointed place, each of the 
guests following next to his special entertainer. And as we 
filed through the streets, our hosts, in recitative, in part un- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. . 313 

intelligible to us, recounted our wonderful prowess in chas- 
ing and killing the big fish of the sea, and our great posses- 
sions in "Amelica." On the way we were joined by some 
of our Kanaka crew, and we bade them join in, as we felt 
sure that we six could not eat two hogs, the turkey, a big 
fish, and much over half a bushel of roasted roots. Nothing 
loath they consented, and joined in a chorus about the great- 
ness and goodness of white men, paying special tribute of 
praise to Poehee, Chippee, and Davikhee. 

Reaching our destination through an admiring and, judg- 
ing by their longing eyes, a hungry crowd, the feast was 
spread on a clean mat of plaited flags on the floor of a large 
room. Around this we arranged ourselves in a classical at- 
titude, while opposite to us squatted our happy hosts. Mi- 
nus knife and fork, the carving was effected by dexterous 
twists and jerks, detaching head, leg, or wing, and bringing 
all connected muscles in convenient form for biting at. The 
stone stuffing rattled out, still steaming from heat ; and with 
the hind leg of a hog in one hand, and a great potato in the 
other, with occasional nips at turkey, or fish, we sea-dogs 
reveled in the abundant rations before us. As I reluctantly 
abandoned the idea of scaling Mauna Loa, I attacked my 
second quarter of pork, and at length had to admit that my 
eating tackle was exhausted, much to the disappointment .of 
My White Shirt who kept urging me to the encounter. All 
I could do was to sit contentedly watching the Kanakas 
polishing off the last bones. The pipe then passed from 
mouth to mouth, and we took the hearts of Our White 
Shirts by storm when we distributed the calico for their 
women, and the needles and hooks for themselves. The set- 
ting sun found us ready to take canoes, and our friends 
paddled us to our home. 

March 26. Yesterday following our carousal was our day 
on duty aboard, and the watch was busy getting off wood, 

14 



314 NINROD OF THE SEA; OB, 

sweet-potatoes, yams, pigs, and goats. The decks were filled 
with Kanakas trading with us for needles, hoop-iron, etc., 
giving in exchange the pretty shells, tapa, etc., etc. 

At 1 p.m. Governor Adams, called the head chief of the 
island, came off in a large double canoe on a visit of cere- 
mony to Captain B . He was enormously fat, and to 

bring him on board, we rigged a tackle from the mainyard, 
and slung it over his great chair (which he had brought with 
him). When seated therein, we ran him up with a "yo, 
heave-oh," and a merry chorus, evidently to the satisfaction 
of his excellency, and the enjoyment of his staff and follow- 
ers, who expressed pleasantries and approval of our elevator. 
His excessive flesh prevented his going into the cabin, and 
his entertainment was under an awning decorated with the 
ship's colors. As he slowly walked about the deck, two at- 
tendants followed with his chair, that he might seat himself 
while observing the ship or conversing with the captain or 
officers. He spoke English easily and well. All the accom- 
panying chiefs were large and remarkably fine-looking men. 
I was much impressed with the marked superiority of the 
chiefs over the common people with whom we have daily in- 
tercourse. Of course there was an object in this formal 
visit, but this we were not allowed to learn. A whisper got 
abroad, however, that it was in some degree connected with 
the culture and working of cotton, which Governor Adams 
had much at heart. He left a present of fruit for the men 
forward, and we bade him adieu with three hearty cheers, 
which he gracefully acknowledged. 

To-day it was our watch on shore. I have in some de- 
gree got my land-legs aboard again, and find I can prolong 
my walks without the intolerable " toothache " in every bone 
of my body. I had made arrangements with My White Shirt 
to fish for the bonita, and while he was arranging the ca- 
noes, Chips, Posey, and I strolled into an open thatched shed, 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 315 

prettily shaded, where some twenty-five women were beating- 
out tapa. This substance forms the principal clothing of 
the natives. It is of the consistence of a thick, soft paper, 
and is made of the inner bark of the paper-mulberry-tree. 
The borders are prettily ornamented with simple figures, 
printed in colors, red and black predominating. All the 
women engaged in this work were young, and some of them 
were good-looking. Gentleness and good humor are the 
prevailing expressions of all the women of the island. They 
welcomed the advent of the three white men with smiles, 
and what we took for compliments. One invited me to seat 
myself beside her, and without hesitancy I squatted on the 
ground and watched with interest the curious process of 
spreading the closely interlaced fibres of the bark into thin 
sheets of a uniform thickness, about eight to ten inches 
square. After this had been done, the edges were united 
by whittling and beating with a light wooden tool with a 
notched face, and the small pieces were felted together, un- 
til sheets of twelve feet square were made. The broad sheet 
is folded very prettily about the body, and is sufficient pro- 
tection for this climate. The pleasant - eyed "nut-brown 
maid" explained as best she could the processes going on, 
and I gravely nodded approval. 

She then placed her hand on the head of her white com- 
panion, and took delight in running her taper fingers through 
the long curling locks which I took special pride in cultiva- 
ting. But as she lifted and arranged the curls she murmur- 
ed, "Miti, mitV — good, very good — and gently drew my 
head into her lap, thrusting her fingers deep down about the 
roots. It gradually occurred to me that this beauty was on 
a hunt for very objectionable ideas which she would not be 
likely to find, and she pushed the empty head from her lap, 
now exclaiming " Oury miti " — no good. I was quite ready 
to tear myself away after this, and start on my fishing trip. 

We were now on the north side of the bay, near the spot 



316 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OH, 

where Captain Cook met his death, in 1778. It was with 
the usual arrogance of the English breed of white men that 
he underrated the character of these people for bravery, and 
their haughty indisposition to submit to the strangers' tyr- 
anny. The loss of this great explorer is to be deplored, but 
no unprejudiced jury, even on the English account, could 
render verdict other than " served him right." A small pile 
of stones long marked the spot near which he fell, but the 
hand of the spoiler was fast removing this trace, when an 
English man-of-war placed a small sheet of copper, bearing 
an inscription, on the trunk of the nearest cocoa-nut-tree. 
The trunk of the tree was subsequently conveyed to England 
and placed in the British Museum — a very cheap monument 
to England's greatest navigator and explorer. An old chief 
who professed to remember the unfortunate occurrence, 
pointed out the flat table of lava on which Cook was beaten 
down, and with pantomimic action he endeavored to portray 
the incidents, now running to and fro, now personating the 
marines, with " boom, boom," and "ourymitif and now show- 
ing how his countrymen ran to the water and dipped their 
cocoa-mat armor, thinking that the moisture would extin- 
guish the bolt of flame which they saw issue from the dead- 
ly gun. They supposed that the flame inflicted the deep 
wound, and reasoned that a wetted mat might arrest the 
death-dealing fire. Finding that this expedient failed, the 
great dread possessed them that the white man was armed 
with the sacred fire with which Pele had overcome the sea- 
god, and brought their island home up through the great 
deeps. This thought intimidated them more than the slaugh- 
ter of their companions. But it must be admitted that they 
manifested a cool courage and a ready presence of mind. 

Our entertainers announced that all was in readiness, and 
we embarked in a double canoe. This structure was com- 
posed, as its name implies, of two canoes placed parallel with 
each other, about eight feet apart, and secured together by 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 317 

.two .arched ties. On these connecting ties or beams was 
erected a light staging, on which the freight was placed, 
leaving the long narrow canoes unencumbered for the pad- 
dlers. A large double canoe will require perhaps thirty or 
forty men at the paddles, and they are very swift. The men 
regulate their stroke by a chant or chorus, in which all join, 
and the effect on the water is very fine. The old war-canoes 
were beautiful specimens of workmanship. Our carpenter 
was an excellent workman in his craft, yet he remarked on 
examining the governor's canoe, that with the advantage he 
possessed in perfect tools, he would not dare to touch it with 
the idea of improving the finish ; he might add ornamenta- 
tion, but not finish. Our canoe was manned by eight pad- 
dlers, two steersmen, and three to manage the rod ; adding 
the three white men, all told, sixteen men. From the back 
part of the stage projected a stout bamboo-rod about thirty 
feet in length, secured in a recess formed in the stage, with 
two stays, or guys, leading over a short mast in the bow of 
either canoe. By drawing on these, the pole could be ele- 
vated, so as to swing'the captured fish on to the stage. From 
the outer end of the rod depended a line of equal length, and 
attached to this was the white bone hook, and a pair of the 
wings of the flying-fish. The method of fishing was simply 
to paddle the canoe with such speed as would cause the 
lure to skip from wave to wave, in semblance of the motions 
of the flying-fish, and the bonita would greedily seize it. 
The instant the fish struck, the two men at the guy would 
elevate the rod, and the fish was swung to the man on the 
stage. We were out about three hours, and took about 
eight hundred pounds of fish. Our entertainers said that 
the sea was much too smooth, or Ave should have taken a 
greater quantity. Much pleased with the novelty of the 
sport and the completeness of the arrangement, we returned 
to the ship, each bearing a couple of fine fish for the mess. 



318 NIMROD OF THE SEA ; OR, 

March 27 {Sunday). Mr. Baldwin, of Pennsylvania, a 
missionary stationed near this place, preached to us to-day. 
The entire crew formed his small but attentive and interest- 
ed audience. The service recalled the Sabbaths of home, 
the first I have experienced for seventeen months. The 
good word spoken was chiefly of value, as it evidently came 
from a loving heart, sympathizing with us in our exposures, 
temptations, and peculiar hardships, and encouraging us to 
keep our faces to the right, though gales of temptation 
might drive us from the true course; though we might 
live far from goodness, said the preacher, still to keep up 
the love of good. ISTever say to evil, be thou my good ; 
never excuse the evil of your course, or love the evil in oth- 
ers; hate evil, though you may not do right to-day; hate 
evil, and the hope remains that you will, in the fullness of 
God's mercy, live to cease from wickedness. After all, I felt 
that it was not from ignorance that I was so wide of the 
true path. After dinner he distributed some tracts, which 
I fear failed to reach the witness within, and he invited the 
crew to call at the mission for Bibles. 

On the 29th of March we hove up anchor, bound for Hon- 
olulu, but the wind failing us, we had to let go again to save 
the ship from drifting on a ledge of rocks at the southern 
entrance of the harbor. We lay easy until the following 
morning, when we got up the anchor, and by towing with 
the four boats made an offing from under the lee of the 
bluff, when a fresh breeze filled our sails, and we dashed 
merrily on our course for Oahu. As we ran along to the 
south of Maui we had a beautiful view of the volcanic peak 
of Haleakala, " the house of the sun," so named because the 
morning sun rose over its lofty summit to the populated 
portions of the island. It is ten thousand six hundred feet 
in height, and its summit is excavated by a great sandy cra- 
ter some three miles in extent, and of vast depth. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 319 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Jack of Owyhee sings the Song of Haleakala, and the Wars of Fire, Water, 
Air, and the Sands. — Admirable Qualities of the Kanakas. — Sunday at 
Honolulu. — Outer Anchorage. — Fitting Ship for long Cruise. — Mr. Deil, 
Seaman's Chaplain. — Drunkenness on Shore. — Meeting Daniel Wheeler, 
and we disagree. — Good News of our imprisoned Shipmates. — The Pow- 
er of the United States interposed, and they are liberated. — Weigh 

Anchor for Japan. — A Woman swims thirty Hours.— Mr. S left at 

the Islands. — Reach Japan, and Bill is promoted. 

Ik this night's watch Jack of Hawaii, our Kanaka bard, 
chanted to us the song of the Haleakala : " The goddess Pele, 
with the sacred fire, had contended with the water-god for 
long ages, and had brought the island up out of the deep 
sea, and made herself a soft resting-place in the great lake 
of fire on the bosom of Haleakala, away out of the reach of 
the water-god. Then the spirits of the Blue Sea sought the 
spirits of the Beaches and the spirits of the Air, to aid in 
driving Pele from her home in the high mountain. Now, 
the Shore remembered how Pele had buried its sands and 
beautiful shells beneath the burning lava, and the winds 
moaned over the black smoke and the sulphurous odors 
with which Pele had polluted their sweet breaths. Then 
the sea lifted its treasures of sand to the shore, and the great 
North Wind lifted the sand in mighty whirlwinds and pour- 
ed it into the crater of Haleakala. Pele fought against the 
sand, she laughed at the little stone splinters, and threw 
them into the clouds ; but the winds held their breath, and 
the sand returned from the sky, and fell again in the face of 
the goddess. Thus for ages the fountains of the sand play- 
ed into the air, and returned again to the contest, until the 



320 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

little grains which restrain the power of the sea, were victo- 
rious over the volcanic rage of Pele. The sand ran back 
and back forever, giving no rest to Pele. It filled her eyes 
that she might not see, it filled her throat that she could not 
breathe. Then she shook the land with earthquakes, and 
the affrighted people fled to their canoes, lest the land should 
sink in the sea; but the God of the Waters brought great 
armies of little worms to prop the land with coral rocks. 
Thus the sand and the worm restrained the earthquake and 
volcano. Then Pele fled to Hawaii, and built up Maun a 
Kea and Mauna Loa out of the solid lava rocks, and carried 
her walls into the kingdom of the ice-king, where the feath- 
ered snow caught the sand and carried it over the water- 
falls into the ocean, whence it came, so that no longer do 
the winds lift the beaches to war against Pele in Hawaii. 

The peculiarity of the crater of Haleakala at the present 
time is the presence of vast beds and banks of sand and 
gravel, which doubtless gave rise to this legend of the war 
of the elements. 

The more I see of the Kanakas of the Sandwich Islands, 
the more am I drawn to them. In my poor estimation, they 
rise infinitely above the populations we sailors meet on the . 
main-land. The thriftlessness, dirt, indolence, superstition, 
cowardice, and treachery which one meets in the mixed 
breeds of the Spanish Main contrast badly with the un- 
selfishsess, the unfailing good -nature, the poetic tempera- 
ment, and the courage to back us, in boat or on the yard- 
arm, which characterize the brown-visaged children of the 
isles. 

April 3 {Sunday). At daylight we were close in to the 
outer harbor of Honolulu, and by the rising sun we dropped 
anchor outside the coral reefs. The people are such rigid 
Sabbatarians, under missionary influence, that no pilot is 
permitted to point the way to the coming mariner on this 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 321 

day, and we are left in an open roadstead, exposed to the 
wind and sea. In the afternoon, on throwing the offal of a 
goat overboard, it attracted several large sharks about the 
ship, and under the persuasive influence of a harpoon we 
enticed one of them to the deck. It measured fourteen 
feet ten inches. Soon after, the Howlin, of Nantucket, 
Captain Worth, anchored near us; six months out, with 
three hundred barrels of oil. The captain had a disturb- 
ance on his ship, and was obliged to put into Payta in dis- 
tress. 

April 26. For twenty days we have been moored in this 
pleasant resting-place. It is not for me to shed ink in the 
descriptions of towns, or to travel on roads made dusty by 
previous travelers. For descriptions of the city of Hono- 
lulu and its surroundings, I refer to. almost any modern 
book of travel on the Pacific, and to the records of mission- 
ary enterprise in the Islands. Commodore Wilkes, for 
instance, is very interesting in his description of this 
place, and of the manners and customs of its remarkable 
people. 

We have been busily refitting ship for the long cruise to 
Japan which lies before us. On alternate days the watch- 
ers have had liberty on shore, but much of the time has 
hung wearily on my hands. Except the reading-room pro- 
vided by the Seaman's Friend Society, there is no resort 
inviting to the sailor who is not attracted by the sensual 
indulgences which are usually prepared for him. Mr. Deil, 
the seamen's chaplain, has been active, however, in making 
the better ways of life attractive to our poor fellows, and 
we are all indebted to him for moments of rational enjoy- 
ment. At this season of the congregation of the whaling- 
fleets on the passage to Japan, Honolulu is very dissipated. 
In spite of the strenuous efforts of the Government to dis- 
courage the traffic in spirits, much drunkenness prevails, 

14* 



322 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

and many poor wrecks of white humanity drift about the 
streets, a scandal to the boasted civilization-with which we 
would supplant heathen customs. The traders find profit 
in vice, and they stand constantly opposed to the efforts 
of the missionary to check an evil which threatens the 
very existence of the people. In a low hole I saw a man 
acting as fiddler and master of ceremonies to a dancing- 
squad of half-drunken sailors. Once he considered himself 
a gentleman, and had sailed master of a large East India- 
man. 

Late one night I went down to the pier to take a canoe 
for the ship, and there I found an old man in the familiar 
garb of the Quaker, striving to send his unaccustomed voice 
across the waters in hailing an English schooner which lay 
far beyond. My younger lungs were placed at his disposal, 
and in a few minutes his boat was on its way ashore to take 
him off. This was Daniel Wheeler, sent out, I believe, by 
the Yearly Meeting of Friends in London, to examine and 
report upon the missionary labors on the islands of the Pa- 
cific. The good old man was evidently surprised at hearing 
the plain language of Friends from the rough sailor at his 
side ; and on learning that I actually " belonged to meeting," 
and hailed from Philadelphia, he cautiously beat about the 
bush to learn to which persuasion I belonged. A manifest 
frigidity stole over his manner when he learned that I hailed 
from the camp of Elias Hicks, and I wondered a little that 
the devil of sectarianism should reach so far as the Sand- 
wich Islands, and come between two lone men on that silent 
night on the coral pier of Honolulu. Daniel did not know 
that in his withdrawal of interest and sympathy he had in a 
degree performed an auto-da-fe. I found that he was la- 
boring under the prevailing error that the American whal- 
ing sailor is entirely beyond the pale of God's mercy, and, 
as he expressed it, is " God-defying, Heaven-abandoned." I 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 323 

strove to show to him that society was in no small degree 
answerable for Jack's faults, and I pointedly inquired wheth- 
er he had of his abundance spared for the enlargement of the 
field of usefulness of Mr. Deil. I also told him plainly that, 
besides the reading-room, there was not a decent roof on the 
shores of the broad Pacific where the sailor could lay his 
head. Before his boat arrived, he thawed to the extent of 
offering to supply us with reading matter of a profitable 
form. The next day I went on board his vessel and received 
a number of books ; but I fear much they were not peculiarly 
adapted to the wants of our boys. 

On inquiring for the men who were thrown into the fort 
three months ago, we learned that the sloop-of-war Peacock 
had released them after about six weeks' detention, Captain 
Kennedy holding that they were improperly confined. Such 
as claimed protection as American citizens were taken on 
board the Peacock j the remainder shipped on other vessels. 
I may anticipate here, for the sake of sequence, that many 
months after this date we met the men on board the Peacock, 
in the port of Callao, and it seemed that there had been much 
trouble on account of the manner of their trial. We under- 
stood that Captain Kennedy held that our captain was liable 
for false imprisonment, and that subsequently the men recov- 
ered wages in the courts of the United States. Mention of 
this is made as evidence that the legal adviser of the men in 
our mutiny kept them clearly within the law. 

"We bade adieu to Honolulu with little regret, our oppor- 
tunities for enjoyment having been extremely limited, and 
we received orders to heave the anchor for an eight months' 
cruise with satisfaction. On the morning of the 26th of 
April we weighed anchor, and stood along the shore three 
miles outside of the coral reef. We were accompanied by 
some twenty men and women, relatives of our Kanaka sail- 
ors. They staid on board until afternoon, when, with much 



324 NIMIiOD OF THE SEA; OR, 

good cheer, the entire party plunged into the water and 
struck out for the shore. 

" Fearlessly they skim along : 
Their hopes are high, their limbs are strong ; 
They spread their arms like the swallow's wing, 
And they throw their feet with a frog-like fling." 

Their friends on board showed no concern whatever; yet 
we must have been more than two miles outside of the reef, 
with a heavy surf breaking. Doubtless it was a slight effort 
to these splendid swimmers. The following incident, taken 
from Wilkes, shows what these peojile are capable of in the 
water: "All swim, and have little fear of loss of life by 
drowning. They appear quite as much at home on the wa- 
ter as on land, and many of them more so. Many remarka- 
ble instances of their patience under this kind of fatigue 
were mentioned to me. One of them, which happened the 
year of our arrival, is well authenticated, and will also tend 
to show very great attachment and endurance in their fe- 
males. As the Hawaiian schooner ITiola, commanded by 
an American named Thompson, married to Kaiha, a female 
chief, was going to Hawaii, having on board many passen- 
gers, the vessel ran ashore on getting into the straits be- 
tween Maui and Hawaii, and all on board, forty-five in num- 
ber, were obliged to take to swimming for safety. Thomp- 
son could swim but little, but his wife was quite expert in 
the art. She promptly came to his aid, placed him on an 
oar, and swam for the shore. The accident occurred on 
Sunday about noon, when she, with many others, began to 
swim for the nearest land, which was Kahoolawe. She con- 
tinued to support her husband until Monday morning, when 
he died from exhaustion, and she did not reach the shore 
until that afternoon. She clung to him to the last, at the 
imminent risk of her own life, and was thirty hours in the 
water." 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 325 

We left behind us Mr. S , the second mate, and one 

man, both being too sick for, the cruise before us; and one 
of the boat-steerers was discharged for inefficiency. We 
shipped three Kanakas, making thirteen in all, who, with 
three blacks and fourteen white men, compose our entire 
crew. At this time I was promoted to steer the captain's 
boat ; and whether I can stand the test or not remains to be 
seen. 

June 11, lat. 31° 28' N.,long. 178° 10' E. After a passage 
of forty-five days, we have reached the eastern verge of the 
cruising-ground of Japan. We have accordingly established 
boat-crew's watches, and for the first time our young boat- 
steerer has headed his watch, and put on airs accordingly, 
pacing the weather quarter-deck, and taking a new interest 
in the ship's course. " How does she head ?" he asked, with 
unnecessary frequency, as we forged slowly along under 
reefed top-sails and furled courses. A vigilant eye was also 
kept for the impossible dangers of this unknown sea. The 
most decided change for the better which I have experienced 
is that my meals are eaten in the cabin at a table, instead of 
on the forehatch, and our dishes are washed by the cabin- 
boy, and not scavengered by the horrible cockroaches of the 
forecastle. 



326 XIM1XJD OF THE >>EA ; 01?, 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Cockroaches as Hunters of the wicked Flea, and as Scavengers. — Swarm- 
ing Schools of Albicore. — First Japan Whale raised. — Tame Whales. — 
Darkness approaching. — Lost Whale. — A Gale of Wind, and Trouble 
in holding Whale. — Slaughter of Sharks.— Sharks suggested for the Am- 
phitheatre. — Cutting-in under Difficulties. — Animal Life surrounding us. 
— Sword-fish and Albicore. — Taking the Sword-fish. — Whales lost and 
taken. — Active Work in the Boats. — Whales every Day. — Bill's first 
Chance. — An exciting Approach, and one hit. — Gam with the Caroline, 
of London. — Musical Inharmoiiy. and a Bow. — We are ordered in to the 
Boat, where the Song is fiuished. — Fourth of July Celebration. 

A woxdeefcl institution, fearfully made, is the cockroach 
of the tropics. His chief recommendation is his insane pur- 
suit of the flea. At times, in Spanish ports, a man succeeds 
in capturing a host of the latter insects, and the first night 
thereafter the roaches make a happy hunting-ground of his 
person. The unfortunate flea is allowed no rest until he 
takes refuge in some crack too small for his pursuer to en- 
ter. At the entrance the roach will keep watch until the 
flea is compelled by hunger to venture forth, when it is 
seized and destroyed. But it is a horrible experience to 
awaken at night, in a climate so warm that a finger-ring is 
the utmost cover you can endure, with the wretched sensa- 
tion of an army of cockroaches climbing up both legs in 
chase of some Spanish unfortunate ! It reminds me of how 
many times I have placed my tin plate in the overhead net- 
tings of the forecastle, with a liberal lump of duff reserved 
from dinner, and on taking it doVn at supper, have found it 
scraped clean by the same guerillas. They leave no food 
alone, and have a nasty odor, which hot water will scarcely 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 327 

remove. But one becomes philosophic at sea in matters of 
food. When butter has tyvice crossed the line, and has 
reached the age of two years, no stomach can accept it as 
butter ; but as cheese, it seems quite mild. About this time 
the epicures on board hesitate to bite the ship-bread in the 
dark, and the custom is to tap each piece on the table as 
you break it off, to dislodge the large worms which breed 
in it. 

To commemorate the day, we killed the old sow which 
we brought from America, and as sea-pie she came to a 
natural conclusion. But her death brought good luck; for 
in the evening the ship was surrounded by swarming shoals 
of albicore, the first we had seen since leaving the Islands. 
From this indication we look with confidence for sperm- 
whale. 

A peculiarity of the waters that we are now in is that in 
the night the fish have a lambent, greenish flame, without 
the usual phosphorescent trail. As thousands of them dart 
about, their forms are shai'ply defined in light. We are 
puzzled to account for this, as there is no light from above 
to be reflected from their bodies, and the cresting foam of 
the waves does not indicate a phosphorescent condition. 

June 12 {Sunday). This morning we observed quantities 
of broken squid floating about the ship— the best sign possi- 
ble, as they are evidently the remains of some sperm-whale's 
feast. And hurra! there they are! Sperm-whale off the 
weather beam, six miles away, coming to leeward. At about 
4 p.m. we lowered three boats. The mate soon fastened ; 
but the whale behaved ugly, and the captain lowered his 
boat, and assisted in killing the brute. Thence we ran down 
to aid the waist-boat, away to leeward, in securing a whale 
it had caught. We were in the midst of a great school of 
seventy-barrel bulls ; and they were so tame that we might 
have taken as many as we needed, but darkness was fast 



328 NIMEOD OF THE SEA; OR, 

settling around us. The boat got fast to a running whale, 
from which it had to cut, and. we went on board, leaving 
two boats slowly towing the dead whale to windward. 

It was a remarkable sight, seen only in the earlier days 
of whaling. The great beasts were lying thick about us, 

taking no notice of the boats. Captain B restrained 

his hand several times from sending the lance into the great 
hulks, as they rolled and spouted around us, because it was 
so late in the day, and, as he said, we were so distant from 
the ship that Ave could not have been benefited had we 
slain. Furthermore, he observed, "It would be a waste of 
precious gifts to do so under the circumstances." I prayed 
for a chance, but he put me off, saying, " Be patient, and re- 
solve to make sure work when I ask you to stand up to it." 

June 13. The two boats we left with the dead whale 
came on board at midnight. The wind had increased to a 
gale, and the seas ran high. We double-wafted the whale, 
but the carcass strained alongside so violently that it snapped 
the heavy fluke-chain, and we should have lost it but for the 
activity of the officer of the deck, who bent a line on to an 
iron in the starboard boat, and planted it in the body as it 
slowly drifted past the weather quarter. The entire line 
was paid out, and the sag and spring of the long line kept 
it in tow until daylight. "With much difficulty, we then suc- 
ceeded in getting a fluke-rope about the dead whale's small, 
only to see it parted by the heave and roll of the tipsy ship. 
Two large hawsers still served to keep our prize alongside. 

The sharks collected in great numbers about the dead 
whale, and soon the white, bowl-shaped excavations about 
the small of the body revealed to us the perfection of the 
surgical instruments they are provided with, ^.t each 
mouthful a quart of sperm-oil was lost to us, and we went 
to work with lances and spades to stop the leak. My arm 
became weary of the slaughter. Standing in the chains, 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 329 

with a guard -belt about the waist, and over the rail, we 
transfixed the ugly brutes until they actually were educated 
to a sense of the danger, and hovered, frightened, at a dis- 
tance. At times the ferocity of their hunger was frightful. 
On more than one occasion, when a blow of the spade left 
the bowels of one protruding, the others would seize on the 
bait, and tear and drag it through the water. The sailors 
may not have been close observers, perhaps, but they assert- 
ed that they saw what led them to believe that sharks thus 
disemboweled returned to the tempting feast. At all events 
it is certain that, with back and sides gashed with wounds, 
insensible to pain, they would tear the dead whale or each 
other. All their feeling seems centred in the broad, thin 
nose which projects far over the crescent mouth ; for, when- 
ever we succeeded in striking that part with the sharp weap- 
ons, the wounded fish would dart away at full speed, and re- 
turn no more. One great fellow was transfixed through 
this tender part by a lance, which, penetrating deep into the 
body of the whale, pinned him there, and held him close 
prisoner. As the waves receded and exposed his full length 
to view, his struggles were terrific, and his tail thrashed the 
smooth blubber with cracks like the fire of musketry. The 
whole exhibition was one to fill a midsummer night's dream 
with the horrors of a nightmare. 

How came it, we wonder, that none of the fiends in hu- 
man shape who have tortured poor humanity never thought 
of having an arena of ravenous sharks to rend, slay, and bury 
their victims? What a fine sensation it would have furnish- 
ed on a Roman holiday ! and what an exquisite adjunct to 
clerical machinery for the punishment of heretics ! 

The gale continued the entire day (13th), but the morn- 
ing of the 14th opened with somewhat moderated, but still 
rough weather. The whale alongside had so swollen that 
much of its huge bulk rose above the water, and it was mon- 



a::o NIMBOD OF THE SEA; OR, 

strous to behold. A great portion of the blabber, and much 
of the muscular flesh from the hump to the tail had been 
eaten away by the sharks during the night. Bitter fortune 
of whalemen ! Such columns of figures as the following, you 
may see in almost every whaleman's journal: 

No 1. Whales killed and saved. 

No 2. Killed and lost. 

No 3. Struck and escaped. 

No 4. Boats lowered for whale without getting on. 

"We succeeded in cutting-in during the day; and when 
the stripped carcass floated away, the sharks held high car- 
nival. A flock of mollemokes also attended at the feast. 

Jkaie 21. Since .taking the last whale, we have been sur- 
rounded by many albicore, and occasionally the beautiful dol- 
phin has been seen. Flying-fish in thousands have glittered 
in the bright sunlight, and flocks of various birds have hov- 
ered over their flight to pick them out of the very mouths 
of their other pursuers. At the mast-head I had an oppor- 
tunity of observing the motions of the sword-fish in pursuit 
of the albicores. The sea was smooth, there being only wind 
enough to give a gentle headway to the ship. I had ob- 
served that the vast school of the albicores had collected 
close about the hull, swimming in dense ranks, now on one 
side, now on the other; sometimes about the bow, and then 
again around the stern, all evidently alarmed and seeking 
protection. After a time I saw the cause in a sword-fish 
swimming deeply beneath the affrighted multitude. It was 
apparent that he feared to make his upward dart against the 
bright copper bottom of the strange monster floating above. 
The manoeuvres continued for some time, the sword-fish grad- 
ually coming into plainer sight as he rose from the depths. 
At length he disappeared from my view directly under the 
ship; that he was still rising was apparent from the increas- 




«■ 



fMPflttil 

mm&l I < 
'illillBm, 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 333 

ing agitation of the albicores, however. They huddled as 
closely as they could, and coursed round and round the ship, 
and in a short time more, as by a common impulse, the dense 
array started away at fullest speed. But it was in vain. 
Their pursuer, now so close to the surface that his back-fin 
and part of his tail could be seen, was almost instantly in 
the midst of the flying throng, and with cut and thrust of 
his sword, too rapid for the eye to follow, he killed several 
instantly. Then he gave up the chase, and the now scattered 
school returned directly to the ship. The captain, who had 
been watching his opportunity, ordered the boat to be cleai'ed 
and lowered, and approaching cautiously with paddles, he 
succeeded in harpooning the tyrannous sword-fish and bring- 
ing it on board. A fine feast for several days it will be, as 
it is the most toothsome of all the deep-water fish. The 
sword was finely edged and pointed — nearly three feet long. 
As I observed his motions, I saw an explanation why the 
sword-fish occasionally strikes the bottom of a vessel and 
drives his formidable weapon through the planks. It is 
simply done in his overeagerness to catch his prey. 

At 10 a.m. we raised sperm-whale to leeward. After a 
chase of two hours, the third mate had a chance ; he darted, 
missed, and gallied the whales beyond all chance of pursuit. 
So we came on board mad, and blessed the unfortunate boat- 
steerer in a left-handed fashion. The boats were scai*cely 
hoisted, and the decks cleared, when a whale rose within a 
few hundred yards of the ship. The mate, called for an in- 
stant crew. I jumped for the bow-oar, quite forgetting my 
new-fledged dignity, and in five minutes we formed an at- 
tachment, close and lasting. Not in the least appreciative, 
the whale sounded out nearly all our line, and remained down 
one hour and ten minutes. When he came up he was thor- 
oughly exhausted, and lay quiet while the mate set on him 
with the lance. He was in his death-flurry within a quarter 



33-4 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

of a mile of the place where he first rose to our sight, and we 
voted him a seventy-five-barrel whale. As we returned on 
board, with good humor restored, we at once rigged the cut- 
ting-fall, and by set of sun had his blanket in the blubber- 
room, the head remaining overboard. 

Jime 22. Bright and early we hove in the junk, and were 
bailing the case, when we saw whales coming to windward 
head out, and evidently flying from the pursuit of a ship, 
which we saw manoeuvring to leeward. All four boats were 
lowered, but a hard chase resulted in their escaping us. 
About 3 p.m. we raised another school. The third mate, 
after an hour's close chase, succeeded in fastening and kill- 
ing a forty-barrel bull, which we hove in next day. Our 
blubber-room pretty well filled, we now started the try-works 
on the two whales. 

tTune 24. Raised whales ; lowered three boats. The sec- 
ond and third mates had two darts at them and missed. 

(Tune 25. About 11 a.m., lowered three boats in chase of 
whales to leeward of the ship. The first and third mates 
had chances to fasten, but their boat-steerers missed and 

gallied the whales. Captain B was aroused. "Now 

your time has come, Bill," he said to me. " Clear away the 
boat, and let's get after them." It would be untrue to claim 
that my nerves didn't flutter as I cleared the irons and 
placed them in the crotch, but ten minutes' tugging at the 
oars settled me. "We were now directly to windward of the 
coming whales, when we hove up, set the sail, and bore down 
directly for them. We had a spanking breeze, and the boat 
made splendid headway. When I turned from setting the 
sail, I saw two great bulls coming for us, noses on a square 
line, rising to spout, and pitching under in exact unison. 
The space between them was so narrow that their sides 
must have touched under water. The moment was grand, 
beyond my poor powers of description. Their heads were 



TME AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 335 

high above the surface, and the white foam was combing 
from their square fronts. On they came, dashing for us at 
twelve knots. Our boat danced on the cresting waves and 
sprang toward them at fully ten knots. Thus we were com- 
ing together at race-horse speed. With the right knee firm- 
ly braced in the close-fitting cleet, the left braced on the star- 
board timber of the thwart, I was welded to the swaying, 
rushing boat ; and with the pole of barbed iron well poised 
in the left hand, and the right laden with spare coils of the 
line, grasping the after-end of the iron pole, the boat-steerer 
stood to take his chance. 

One short sea off, the grand old heads were out, beating 
back the waves, as breakers off a black rock. The steam of 
the spout almost reached the boat. Heading squarely be- 
tween them, the captain exclaimed, " Take that fellow on the 
larboard bow, and jump overboard if you miss him !" "Ay, 
ay, sir." And the two black walls on either hand rose at 
the bow, half filling the boat with the surf, and blinding the 
men with the acrid spray of the spout. The ear was dinned 
with the rushing roar of many waters. There was little 
time for thought, passing each other at the rate of twenty- 
two miles an hour, or the whale's length in one and a half 
seconds. The great hump rounded out not ten feet from 
the eye, and irresistibly attracted the keen-edged harpoon. 
At that moment all energy was concentrated in the blow, 
and the iron was buried to its socket. No hand could be 
quick enough to have caught the second iron, as the boat, 
arrow -like, shot ahead. Two thundering flaps of the im- 
mense flukes astern of the steering-oar telegraphed the news 
to the distant school that an accident had befallen one of the 
family* The boat was thrown around, and the fight com- 
menced with a running sperm-whale. 

But I say to you readers who sit cozy in the snug com- 
forts of home, a man takes a long breath after he has passed 
through that "rapine: canawl." 



336 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

Captain B did his part very well, and the whale was 

soon riding at ease alongside the ship, a sixty-five-barrel 
bull by estimate. Now time ran along to June 30th, when 
we spoke the Caroline, of London, England, with whom we 
exchanged courtesies in a way so characteristic of the two 
peoples interested, that I shall venture to describe it. A 
boat's crew was chosen to pull the captain on board the 
Caroline, consisting of Hinton, the nightingale ; Posey, of 
Vermont ; Bingham, of Kentucky ; Garvin, of Old England ; 
and Bill, of Pennsylvania. As the fact has a bearing on the 
events which follow, I may mention that Bill, who stood six 
feet one inch in his stockings, was the light weight of the 
crew; and I may further mention that our mate, a good 
boxer, had somewhat trained us in the use of our " dad- 
dlers," to meet the emergencies of shore cruises. About 
the set of sun the old man was landed in the cabin of the 
Caroline, to discuss " London particular," while we boys 
went to the forecastle to discuss a jorum of grog, which, 
English fashion, was set before us. Good-fellowship pre- 
vailed. The joke and yarn in their turn amused us. t Of 
course the song must come in, and as we took pride in the 
voice and execution of the Nightingale, " Blue-eyed Mary," 
"Cease, Rude Boreas," etc., etc., wiled the fleeting hours. 
In an unfortunate moment, however, the Dibdin of the Car- 
oline gave us the naval ditty, "When the Galliant Jarvis 
sailed." Now the difficulty of our position was just this: 
Dibdin might sing all night of the rows between Johnnies 
Crapaud and Bull, without touching our corns ; but we had 
no musical reminiscences of naval warfare which might not 
breed a sudden storm in our peaceful circle. Song for 
song had been the order of the exercises, and theme for 
theme. Expecting a row, we gathered about Hinton, as 
he trolled out the modest " Constitution and Guerriere," be- 
Sfinnino:: 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 337 

"It ofttimes has been told 
That the British sailors bold 

Could whip the tars of France so neat and handy, oh ! 
But they surely found their match 
When the Yankees did them catch, 
For the Yankee boys at fighting proved right handy, oh ! " 

Our hosts looked glum, but bore it right manfully. Soon 
as Hinton ceased singing, however, Dibdin struck up with 
the fight between the " Chesapeake and the Shannon," the 
words of which I did not take to heart, as no true Ameri- 
can takes any interest in that fight. But the song was an 
unnecessary affront, as they could have sung all night of the 
glories of England's prowess on the sea, and we would have 
shared in their just pride. There was no help for it now; 
and Hinton next sang : 

"You Parliments of Engeland, and House of Commons, too; 
You'd better mind what you're about, and what you're going to do ; 
You are now at war with Yankees, and I'm sure you'll rue the day 
You roused the Sons of Liberty in North A-meri-ca. 

"First you sent your Boxer to box us all about, 
But we had an Enterprising brig that beat your Boxer out ; 
She boxed her up to Portland, and moored her off the town, 
To show the Sons of Liberty your Boxer of renown. 

"Next you sent your Macedonian, no finer ship could swim, 
Decatur knocked her gilt work off, and then he took her in," etc., etc. 

The list was piled up until forbearance ceased to be a vir- 
tue, and a grizzly old tar cut it short by shying the bread-kit 
at Hinton's head. A long arm stretched that " heart of oak" 
at his length between the chests, and the row was firmly es- 
tablished. We backed into a corner, when only about our 
own number could face us, and we managed to hold our own 
pretty well. Our weight and training stood us in right good 
stead, until the two captains sprang down the scuttle and 

15 



338 XIMROD OF THE SEA; OH, 

interrupted our musical exercises. Captain B ordered 

us into the boat and paid' out the line astern ; but Hinton fin- 
ished his song, as he felt our friends were entitled to it, and 
I can aver that he never was in finer voice, or sang better ; 
all of which led us to an increased love for the " blasted 
Ilinglish," you may be sure. The Caroline hailed, "Twenty- 
one months out, with five hundred barrels of oil." 

July 4. No whales to aid us in celebrating our nation's 
birthday. We did our best in having a good time. Our 
two rusty old guns were sealed in a salute of one gun for 
each hundred barrels of oil we had in the hold — ten in all. 
Our banquet consisted of a Hawaiian pig in sea-pie, yams, 
onions, the everlasting pumpkin-pie, and a mince-pie, made 
of goat's meat, dried apples, and raisins, enlivened with lime- 
juice, and flavored with New England rum. Our Kanakas 
thought Fourth of July " belly miti," and inquired how often 
it came in the year. Toasts were drank in the usual order. 
The cook had won our hearts with his mince-pie, and the 
captain secured our votes at next election by sending for- 
ward a can of grog for each and every man of us. We could 
not afford a libation to the gods ; but we divided the " swig " 
into two equal portions, one to the toast " Our Country," and 

the other to " Captain B 's good health, and early return 

home with a full ship." A patriotic speech, which captain 
and mates cheered, wound up the ceremonies; but I felt sad 
to think that only nine Americans were left on board to 
" celebrate the day." 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 339 



CHAPTER XXX. 

The shaded Side of the Picture: a heartless Captain, and unhappy Crew. — 
We take an Englishman from her : a Waif of the Alliance. — Two small 
Whales taken. — Three Whales struck, one taken. — "Shall I pick you 
up?" "No; kill that Whale." — A butting Whale killed under the 
Counter of an English Ship. — He is Unlucky. — Cruelty to the Islanders. 
— Whales getting wild ; several lost. 

tTuly 5. We spoke the E , Captain W (I withhold 

the names, as neither should live). She is nineteen months 
out, with six hundred barrels of oil. As I am drawing a 
picture of American whaling, the sketch w T ould be incom- 
plete if such dark shades as are furnished by this ship's his- 
tory were omitted. We met her entering the harbor, as we 
were coming out of Payta, about twelve months ago. Since 
then she has not let go her anchor, and has taken but a scant 
supply of vegetables or fruit — only twice, by sending in a 

boat. Captain W came on board our ship, but sent his 

boat immediately back, without allowing his crew to come 
on board. This surprised us, and we voted him a crusty 
curmudgeon, not suspecting him as worse ; but when we af- 
terward accompanied Captain B to his ship, we learned 

his character by what we saw and heard. I saw there the 
worn skeleton of a black man, seemingly far gone in con- 
sumption, a man bearing the most dejected, hopeless expres- 
sion I ever saw. We learned that when he was taken sick, 
the captain swore he would have no " sodgers " on board his 
ship to eat the bread of idleness, and he applied appropriate 
medicine, by rope's-ending the poor fellow until he fainted 
under the cruel blows. He was only revived by the mates 
running a bowline over his lesrs and ducking him into the 



340 yiJfUOD OF THE SEA; OR, 

water. As he became too weak to perform the duties of 
the ship, he was secured by his hands to the handle of the 
grindstone, and compelled by blows to turn and turn the 
stone, whether in use or not. And he has not been allowed 
to go below to sleep now for months. When the poor wretch 
told the captain that he was a dying man, the heartless re- 
ply was, " Why don't you hurry up, and get us rid of you ?" 
Such is a small part of the sickening details of the treatment 
of this poor creature, who, if our religion be true, was a tem- 
ple of the living God. Angels of mercy could alone have 
traced the semblance in the wreck I saw. 

The mates and men seemed to live in constant fear of the 
captain, and a dark brooding spirit pervaded the very at- 
mosphere of her decks. As soon as our captain had accom- 
plished the purpose of his visit, he squared yards and ran 
away from the vicinity, and expressed regret that he had 
exchanged courtesies with the wretched being. 

Our boat brought with us from the E , as a passenger, 

an Englishman, who gave the name of Xorville. His story 
is that he came out in the Alliance, of Newburyport, about 
seven years ago, and while cruising near the Navigator 
Islands, a boat was sent with him on shore. The natives 
attacked it, and, after a hard fight, he was captui'ed. As 
time passed, he rose to be of some consequence among them. 

An length an opportunity of escape offered in the JE . 

He agreed with Captain W to furnish two and a half 

tons of hogs, a boat-load of taro, and a boat-load of yams, in 
payment for his passage to some port frequented by English 
vessels. The captain was to give him forty dollars in mouey. 
After getting to sea, very curiously, a point of religion cre- 
ated a difference between them, which naturally, with such 

a tyrant as Captain W , soon ended in an open rupture. 

When Captain B heard his story, he offered to give him 

the passage, and he induced Captain W to stand to his 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 341 

bargain, and give the man the forty dollars agreed upon. 

Mr. Norville seemed quite happy at escaping from the E 

with his life, and says that he would rather trust to the 

tender mercies of the cannibals than to Captain W . 

He seems to be an educated man, and expresses himself well 
for one so much out of the practice of his native language. 
Lat. 31° 12' K, long. 173° 45' E. 

tTuly 12. While washing deck, sperm-whales were raised 
at 7 a.m. We lowered, and took two, of about twenty bar- 
rels each — very small for the Japan ground. We hove them 
in before dark. 

Aug. 3. In the early morning we lowered and fastened to 
three whales; but the two mates lost theirs — the iron draw- 
ing in one, and the line parting in the other. Our whale 
lifted us twice with his flukes without disabling us, and 
strove to breach into the boat, but a quick movement of the 
boat brought his fall alongside. Nobody hurt. 

Just before sunset we raised another school of sperm- 
whales ; lowered, but night broke up the chase. We were 
spoken by the Emily Morgan, of New Bedford, Captain 
Wray, thirty -seven months out, with eleven hundred and 
fifty barrels of oil. We hailed eleven hundred barrels. To- 
day's whale is placed at thirty barrels. 

Aug. 6. Weather somewhat squally ; saw a sail to leeward 
of us. At 1 p.m. noticed that two sails to windward of us 
had squared away, and were coming down before the wind. 
Suspecting that they were following whales, we tacked ship 
and beat up, keeping a sharp lookout. We soon raised 
whales coming to leeward ; lowered two boats, and pulled up 
to take our chance with six boats coming down under sail. 
The whales went down, however, and passed under our boats. 
We then lowered two more boats. The captain's boat went 
on, and we got two irons in wellunder the hump of one. The 
third mate joined us, and also fastened. As he was going 



343 N1MR0D OF THE HEA; OB, 

on to lance, a quick cut of the flukes stove in his broadside, 

knocking mate and boat-steerer overboard. Captain B 

asked, " Shall I pick you up, Burroughs ?" " Xo, sir ; we're 
all right. You kill that blamed whale, though," he stuttered. 
So we left them hugging ash and white cedar. But we came 
mighty near the same predicament. Three different times 
we thought we were gone: once from a rattler with his 
flukes, and twice he butted us with his head. But the 
steering-oar brought the blows glancing, and saved us. He 
was the most active whale of the size that we had yet 
tackled. He ran us to windward, and, with three wild cheers, 
we hazed through the fleet of six boats, which were pulling 
sullenly back to their ships ; thence, at full speed, with the 
whale carrying the " pirate's red flag " at the fore, we glanced 
under the stern of the Eliza, of London. The usual flurry 
ended the contest, and the whale rolled fin out, with head 
to the sun, within a half-mile of our transatlantic relative. 
We placed him at seventy-five barrels. 

Aug. 9. At 3 p.m. cooled down the try - works, cindered 
the decks, and washed down, scouring every thing bright as 
a new pin. There was no other evidence of grease on board 
than one hundred and ninety barrels of oil, the product of 
the three last whales, ranged and lashed to the bulwarks. 
We were hailed by the Eliza, of London, ten months out, 

with one hundred barrels of oil. Captain L came on 

board, and spent four hours with us. He was a burly spec- 
imen of the British sea-dog, and had been unfortunate as a 
whaleman, but I judged you might count on him for sure 
backing in a fight. They have had no albicore arcund their 
ship since they came on the Japan ground, while with us the 
school has been constant and undiminished in numbers since 
it first joined us in the early part of June last. And, what 
added to the superstition of our men, the great school left 
us while the Eliza floated near us. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 343 

Our visitors have three Marquesas Kanakas on board. 
They were carried off against their will, to replace three of 
the crew who deserted on one of the group. The captain 
demanded of the chief to return the deserters under reprisal. 
The chief refused, and the captain double-shotted his nine- 
pound guns, sent a round into the crowded grass huts of the 
village, and carried off the three natives. We Christians 
must not be unduly shocked when we hear of retaliation by 
the savages on the next ship's crew that falls into their pow- 
er. The surgeon of the Eliza came on board to administer 
to four of our men who were on the sick-list ; and in return 
for this kindness, on the following morning we sent our 
neighbors a present of fish. 

Aug. 31. Since the 9th we have had much squally weath- 
er and rain, with some lightning and thundei\ The season 
of typhoons is coming round, and it is time that we were 
east of the meridian. To-day we set regular watches, and 
ran during the night — the first omission of reefing and furl- 
ing close for three months. We were spoken by the Charles 
Frederick, of New Bedford, Captain Young, eight months 
out, eight hundred barrels of oil. She is the most fortunate 
ship we have met. Whales are getting very wild, and diffi- 
cult of approach. 

Sept. 3. We are working our way to the eastward ; have 
had several very hard chases. Once we lowered soon after 
sunrise, and chased to the end of the day without success. 
To make this day's mishaps the harder to bear, we had three 
first-rate chances on large whales. Two were fairly missed : 
the boat-steerers seemed gallied ; the third iron twisted off 
near the head. The second mate's boat-steerer was broken, 
and Posey appointed in his place. Now is the lover's chance. 
None who know of the bright hopes which hang on this op- 
portunity can doubt his success ; and could true love have 
its way on the next whale, he would throw his iron clean 



344 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

through it. Ah me ! we might have had two hundred bar- 
rels of oil alongside. 

Sept. 4. Lowered for whales, but they fought shy. The 
second mate had to caution his new boat-steerer against 
breaking his oar, in his frantic efforts to lift the boat from 
sea to sea. But his time had not come yet. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 345 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

Posey's first Whale, and lost "Whale ; we struck him, he struck back. — The 
Boat crushed by his Jaw, but "Whale saved. — Boat cut in two by a 
"Whale, and Hinton a Shade whiter. — The Portuguese Man-of-war, or 
Sea-nettle. — Passage from Japan. — Pets all consumed. — Grub does not 
improve with Age. — Minutes longer by Day and shorter at -Night.— Bul- 
ly Sprague, and Jonah's Whale. — Well-spun Yarns a Necessity. — Cap- 
tain Covill, and fighting Whale. — Boat bit in two. — Tried to butt the 
Ship. 

Sept. 6. To-day Posey won his spurs. Early in the morn- 
ing we raised sperm-whale. They Were traveling slowly to 
windward. At 2 p.m. we lowered away, and after about two 
hours' chase, the second mate's boat went on. I saw Posey 
stand up, and the next minute white water showed that he 
had dropped a thought of his sweetheart into that whale. 
He had won his Nantucket love by that good blow. The 
whale, spouting thin blood, sounded out all their line. Our 
crew were to windward, and took the game as he came up, 
and, between the lances of the two boats, he was soon con- 
sidered a dead whale. Again he sounded, and remained 
down nearly an hour. The second mate had returned to 
the ship for a new line, and we were carelessly reposing on 
our oars, when we were aroused by the rasp of the whale's 
teeth against the boat as he rose, with open mouth, the boat 
fairly in it. He caught the boat between the tub and after- 
oar, and closed on it. The dropping of the long end of the 
boat brought the stern-sheets square with his great square 
snout. The men leaped into the sea ; and the shortest way to 
safety for the boat-steerer was right across the enormous junk. 
I stepped on to the head, and thence plunged clear of imme- 

15* 



346 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

diate danger, though shortly after I had to dive deeply, to al- 
low the whale to glide over me. It may be a low habit, but 
certainly it is very human to moralize in intervals of ovei'- 
whelming dangers. Thus, on rising from the sea, the resolve 
was graven on my mind to be worthy of the great deliver- 
ance, as in the past I had surely been unworthy of it. 

The old fellow showed a great disposition to fling his 
ugly jaw at every floating object, and it became prudent in 
our boat-steerer to remove his curly locks from his range of 
vision. After butting the boat from side to side, to the 
manifest disgust of those who were riding her bottom, the 
whale decorously retired a short distance, and went into his 
flurry. The mate's boat picked us up, and the whale, which 
will make about fifty barrels, was saved. The only injury 
we suffered was a man's hand jammed by the whale's tooth. 

Sept. 13. The mate went on to a sperm, and had his boat 
cut entirely in two by the whale. Hinton got an ugly tap 
on the head. We supposed it would have killed a white 
man, but it only straightened Harry out for half an hour, 
when he woke up, not much the worse of the wear. We 
were very anxious, for we could ill spare his musical voice. 

"Did you get the whale?" was his first inquiry. 

" Yes." 

"All right." And the subject was dismissed. But I 
•thought Har^y was a shade whiter after the accident — as he 
had a right to be, owing to the white blood in him. 

We must not leave these waters without allusion to the" 
beautiful mollusk, the sea-nettle, or Portuguese man-of-war, 
which is sometimes seen in great numbers. The colors dis- 
played by it when floating on a calm sea are attractive to 
the rudest observer. Varying shades of blue, pink, and yel- 
low mark the body, which has a fringe of strongly contrast- 
ed colors, the outer filaments being crimson, and the inner a 
dark purple. The naked swimmer, on coming in contact 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 347 

with them, experiences a stinging sensation resembling that 
of nettles ; hence the name. "We are now standing to the 
eastward on a passage, meeting the varying incidents of 
storm and calm, which go to make up the journal of the 
mariner who merely journeys over this waste of waters. 

DKEAM-LIFE. 
"The staghouncls, weary with the chase, 
Lay stretched upon the rushy floor, 
And urged in dreams the forest race 
From Teviot stone to Eskdale moor." 

Were the visions of the night which inspired and refresh- 
ed the soul of the weary sailor of no more significance than 
the dreams which came to the soulless hrute ? The tedium 
of a long cruise, and the absence of incident in our waking 
hours, seemed to incite the imagination to a greater activity 
in our sleep. At times the dream-life was so connected, 
that a question arose as to which was the reality — the toil- 
some, wearisome bondage by day, or the bright, happy free- 
dom of the night. Dreaming of home became habitual, and 
somewhat under control. When I closed my eyes in sleep 
with the thought "I will go home," then the spirit of 
dreams set me gently in the walks of boyhood, and the 
faces of friends welcomed me. But in all my dreams I was 
with, or of, the ship, and ever conscious that I was dream- 
ing. The old craft formed part of the phantoms of the 
night. Once we anchored her in the shallow stream abreast 
the old saw-mill in which I graduated as a mechanic; and 
she rode securely moored in waters so shallow that it might 
be waded to grapple the suckers and mullet from under the 
stones. And we happy fellows clustered like bees about 
the well-remembered cider-press, to suck through straws the 
luscious juice of new-pressed apples, a good father standing 
by with welcoming face to bid us make the most of the 



348 N1M110D OF THE SEA; OB, 

chance. In Moscow I had a favorite dream resort. A 
quaint, unusual structure, with arched brick gate-ways and 
paved courts, was visited so often that the face of mine host 
grew familiar to me, and the arched doors swung open at 
my bidding. 

But there was one dream which rose to the dignity of 
an inspired vision, and which imperatively shaped an after 
happy life. This air-drawn picture I will sketch, and, with 
its sequel, leave to the philosopher, doubter, or dreamer to 
reconcile the strange coincidences. It occurred at a period 
in our voyage when thoughts were somewhat homeward- 
bound, and anxious forecastings of the future occupied wak- 
ing moments at mast-head, the helm, and the nightwatch. 
Reviewing the past, the dangers and temptations which be- 
set our careless lives, the impression grew that, alone and 
unaided, I might yield and fall by the wayside ; that safety 
lay in the pledge of love and honor to some one worthy of 
my love ; that, unmarried, I must not again tread the path 
before me. Then a great despair settled as a cloud, and ob- 
scured my way of life. For who, among the women I could 
cherish, would accept the hand of the wanderer? What 
would I ask of her? Weeks only of wedded life, with 
years of bondaged widowhood — not a tempting boon to lay 
at the feet of true womanhood. Yet none but the truest 
might hope to hold the errant sailor to the path of recti- 
tude. Such was my unrest, when the spirit of dreams came 
to my aid, and brought peace on its wings. 

In the visions of the night T stood in an unremembered 
room, and with me was a woman, the seeming of my future 
partner in life. The consciousness of the time which must 
elapse before Ave could meet was perfect, and the dreamer 
asked, " By what token may I know you?" Then she wrote 
on a paper, and threw it to me, saying, " By this shalt thou 
surely know me !" And the vision faded. When I awoke, 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 349 

the vision of the writing remained, but I had no memory at 
that moment of the words nor of the person, save that she 
was young and of pleasing presence. But a new peace pos- 
sessed my whole being. The long-repeated questioning was 
answered, and gradually the vision slumbered in my memo- 
ry. It might have remained in oblivion, as an idle fancy, 
but for the sequel which elevates it into a real interview of 
stranger spirits living on opposite sides of the earth. 

Two years from the time of the dream, and months after 
the returned sailor had resumed the staid, orderly habits of 
home-life, his mother, who was a zealous worker for the 
emancipation of the Southera slave, received a letter from 
the treasurer of a woman's antislavery society, requesting 
the collection of certain pledges of money made by neigh- 
boring friends of the cause. The letter was passed to the 
son, with the desire that he should collect the funds and 
transmit them to the writer. When his eyes rested on the 
writing, the long-forgotten vision of the Pacific rose vividly 
before the mind's eye ; the well-known characters of the mys- 
tic card were before him, and the words, " By this shalt thou 
surely know me," were recalled. Here was his affinity, and 
in what guise ? A treasurer of an antislavery society ; a 
woman abolitionist ; a female intermeddler in other people's 
business ; a strong-minded creature ; a " blue ;" a bore, of 
course; and probably old. Such were the terrible fancies 
which grew out of the now familiar handwriting. An in- 
voluntary farewell to home, and the acceptance of an await- 
ing berth for a second voyage, flits through the mind of the 
reader. You must know that the barbarian of the waters 
was strongly imbued with the patriotic and peculiarly Amer- 
ican idea, that an abolitionist embodied all that was to be 
despised by every true lover of his country and kind. A 
mother and brother engaged in it alone saved the cause from 
his utter condemnation. So with a fervent " Get thou be- 



350 N1MROD OF THE SEA; OB, 

hind me, Satan !" the money was gleaned, and iuclosed in a 
courteous letter to the dreaded woman treasurer. 

But no word of inquiry respecting her passed the sailor's 
lips. He feared to know who or what she was; for had she 
been " all his fancy painted her," then welcome the stormy 
main, and the perils of ship, boat, or shore. Months, how- 
ever, passed in safety, and the impending fate passed into 
forgetfulness, and the danger was pooh-poohed as the base- 
less fabric of a dream. Again the good mother pressed her 
unwilling son into antislavery service, as her escort to a 
conventicle of the agitators at a Quaker meeting-house in a 
neighboring county. Under the stress of filial duty, the serv- 
ice was rendered ; but had it not been childish, the repro- 
bate would have sat with the horses outside, rather than lend 
his presence to mischief in the holy place. 

However, taking the backmost seat of the back bench, 
with disapproving glance he observed the earnest faces of 
the assembly. The idle, indifferent gaze was presently ar- 
rested by a pair of great, deer-like eyes, which looked from 
the shadow of a plain beaver bonnet on the sulking unbe- 
liever. He recognized, with a thrill of heavenly content- 
ment, that this beautiful creature was the author of the beg- 
ging letter which had so disturbed him, and the writer of 
the dream-token that had so consoled him; and in her lus- 
trous eyes he felt the spirit which had spanned the globe to 
meet him in the old vision of the sea. From this time out 
he felt that he had a sure anchor by which he could ride out 
the storms and temptations of a somewhat checkered life. 
And that antislavery angel now laughs at the gray-beard as 
he spins his whaling yarns for the entertainment of their 
children. 

Oct. 15. Our long cruise on Japan seas is accomplished. 
Land-sick, we are running into our old tramping-ground, the 
Galapagos, for terrapin. We have eaten all our pets. The 



THE AMEBIC AN WHALEMAN. 351 

last pig was buried in pie-crust long since, and my poor 
milk-goat passed into a menavelin stew. Our water, nearly 
eight months in the cask, has become horrible, but the bread 
is more tender as time passes. Industrious worms, an inch 
in length, have bored and cut it so thoroughly that it is no 
longer necessary to soak it in our hot coffee in order to 
adapt it to our teeth; but still fastidious eaters do so to 
scald the creepers out of the holes, and then skim them from 
the cup " which cheers but not inebriates." The butter is 
more like cheese than ever, and the beef is daily more. oak- 
like to the eye and more briny to the palate; choice bits 
susceptible of a high polish serve as cane-heads, and the 
beef has this to recommend it, it keeps the grinding appa- 
ratus of the stomach in full play. Three things alone seem 
to be permanent — the pork, molasses, and watch on deck. I 
am inclined to believe that the last has increased materially 
in length. I still hold that there are but twenty-four hours 
in the day, and sixty minutes in each of the four hours of 
the watch ; yet the minutes, like dullest music long drawn 
out, seem to run to treble their ordinary length. You un- 
derstand, then, how tiresome the watch is. Posey suggests 
that the order of nature is always balanced, and that the 
long minute on watch is made up by the rapid flight of time 
in the watch below. 

In this state of affairs the song and yarn are necessarily 
somewhat spicy and strong to pry the heavy portals of the 
eyes, and the "Arabian Nights" and "Tom Moore" fail to 
stir the sluggish blood. In such a mood to-night the cry 
arose for " Bully " Sprague's yarn about Jonah's whale ; and 
though it had often been told before, we hoped that it would 
tide us over the yawning gulf until eight bells. The yarn 
was in these words : 

" You have all heard of Bully Sprague, who steered Cap- 
tain Sartori so many years on a second mate's lay ; but you 



352 NUIROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

have never heard why the captain fell in love with him. 
This I'll tell you first, that you may know your man. Dur- 
ing the last voyage of the Anaconda, of Ipswich, the captain 
laid Bully on to a sperm-whale, and Bully darted his iron 
real mad ; for they had had a hard chase. The next minute 
the captain saw the iron pole bobbing end out, ten feet the 
other side of the whale. 

" 'Thunder ! You missed him !' he said to Bully. 

"'Missed your granny!' rejoined the harpooner; 'that 
iron went through him.' 

" Sure enough, when they killed him they found the tow- 
line rove through below the hump, and the iron acting tog- 
gle on the other side. Sartori swore that he never would 
have any other boat-steerer while Bully lived ; and so Bully 
sailed on a second mate's lay until he quit and took to farm- 
ing back of Ipswich. 

"But he came near losing his number in the mess on the 
second voyage after this, and he tells his own story in this 
way : ' Down off Timor, Captain Sartori laid me on to an all- 
fired big bull-whale. Soon as I stood up I knew it was Ti- 
mor Tom I was on. He was grizzly and white; his hide scar- 
red an' furrowed, and old irons stood out of his white hump 
like stubbs in a corn-field in snow-time. I was gallied some 
when I saw his white back, but I couldn't help hitting him, 
you know, from long habit; so I added two irons to the 
score in his back. 

'"Just as quick as winkin', his old jaw came up and cut 
the bow right off at the bow-thwart, an' we two (that is, the 
bow and me) went a-kiting, I tell you ! When I turned to 
come down, there was the whale end up, mouth wide open, 
waitin' for me; his throat looked like a whitewashed cellar 
door; but I saw his teeth were smooth with the gum, an' I 
took some comfort in that. When I struck his throat, he 
snapped for me, but I had good headway on, and was splash- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 358 

ed against the soft bottom of his stomach, when I heard his 
old jaws come together with a noise like the flap of a main- 
top-sail in a gale before the ear-ring is hauled out. I was 
pretty much tuckered out for want of breath for a little 
while, an' I sot down on the sou'-east corner of his liver, and 
swung my legs York fashion, while I got my wits aboard. 
It wasn't at all dark down there, for there was ten thousand 
of them little shining sea-jellies, stickin' all around in the 
wrinkles of his stomach, and there was plenty of room, too. 
Bymeby I got easier, an' kind o' accepted the situation, when 
I saw a black patch on the starboard side of the stomach 
well forrard, and I walked over to see what it might mean. 
I picked out a jelly-fish bright enough to light a pipe a'most, 
and held it up, and I saw pricked in Injey-ink, in great big 
printin' letters, " JONAH. B.C. 1 683." Then I knew just 
where I was, and began to feel real bad. I remembered how 
my old mother used to read that story to me when I was a 
babby, to turn me agin' whalin', and how I used to tell her 
that harpoons weren't invented in them days. I kind o' felt 
as if a judgment had come on me, and I took a fresh quid 
for consolation sake. I saw at once that Timor Tom warn't 
used to tobacco, for a kind o' turnin' of the stomach began. 
So I picked up a jackknife I saw lay in' on the floor, and 
hacked a big plug all into little bits, and slipped 'em into 
hundreds of little poutin' mouths in the stomach, that I saw 
a-gapin' at me. 

"'The physic worked to a charm. The whale began 
heavin' an' squirmin' real awful, when, all at once, the stom- 
ach turned clean over with a flop like an earthquake, and I 
was shot out with about a cart-load of chawed squid that 
laid around the floor. The mate's boat was then pickin' 
up Captain Sartori and the crew, and they took me in too. 
When I told them about the printin', they laughed right 
out; but when I showed them the horn-handled jackknife, 



354 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OB, 

and they saw Jonah's initial on one side and a picter of the 
American eagle on the other, why, they believed my story. 
Just then I heard some one yell down the companion-way, 
" Watch ahoy ! turn out ; eight bells." Then I knowed I'd 
been a-dreamin' an all -fired lie of about forty nightmare 
power.' And that's Bully Sprague's story of Jonah's whale." 

" I am sorry he dreamed, for I should like to have proof 
of that story of Jonah, which I feel in duty bound to believe," 
said the big Kentuckian, Bingham. 

And allow me to say just here, that the object of the yarn 
and song at sea is to keep the watch awake. If the reader 
will recall what has been already written of the overmaster- 
ing drowsiness which assails us in our night watches, he 
will make allowance for the exaggeration and high spice 
which is thrown into the recitals. It requires stirring inci- 
dent to banish sleep from the eyes of a man who would 
scarcely waken under the shower-bath of a sea leaping the 
bulwarks. And if I banished the yarn from my story, you 
would have a weak picture of the real life aboard a whale- 
ship. 

A page may well be devoted also to our meeting with the 
Mount Vernon, of New Bedford, Captain Covill. His son, 
George Covill, had sailed as cabin-boy, man before the mast, 
boat-steerer, and now ranked as second mate in this ship 
(and I may add that he afterward, as first mate, and for two 
voyages as master, continued in her). As second mate, he 
was steered by a man named Brooks, and gave us the follow- 
ing story, which I repeat for the sake of the information it 
contains relative to a sperm-whale : 

"A whale was coming to windward at a tremendous rate, 
and his course lay directly across the head of our boat. I 
told the men to heave up and lie still, but to keep their oars 
in their hands, and I ordered Brooks to stand up. It looked 
for a. minute as though the whale was going clean through 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 355 

us ; but with a ' Steady, boys ! keep cool, and watch your 
chance, Brooks,' I laid the boat round on his course, to save 
the surge when the box-line was out. His old, scarred head 
shot out just under the blade of the bow-oar, and he spouted 
and pitched like a flash. Brooks had only time to get in 
one iron, that just behind the eye; but the next spout was 
thin blood. ' Well done, Brooks ! That iron was a settler.' 
The whale shot two or three lengths ahead, and stopped 
short. Brooks came aft and took the steerinsr-oar: I took 
the bow, loosened rny lance, and ordered the men to pull 
ahead, that I might put in the second iron. 

"But the whale had his eye on us; for as soon as we 
dropped the oars, he milled short round, and came down on 
us. I had the iron in my hand, and when his snout came 
in fair dart, I let drive. You might as well have darted 
against a cotton-bale. The iron was thrown right back ; he 
brought his jaw up with a sharp snap, and just nicked the 
bow, putting a hole through the garboard-streak. ' Why, 
Brooks,' I said, ' it looks as though the whale meant that 
for us!' 'It did look like it, sir,' said he. Then the brute 
straightened out, sagging on the surface, spouting thin blood, 
and snapping his spout-hole. 

" ' Do you hear that, men ?' I exclaimed. ' You keep cool, 
and move together. Now pull me on.' 

" He met me again square, head on, and pushed the boat 
astern. We knew he would use his jaw if he ranged his 
nose beside the boat ; but when he offered his life I put my 
lance in, and he answered by spouting thick blood. From 
this out he was ugly enough. He did not count much on 
his flukes, but meant mischief with his jaw. So we sparred 
for a time, when he rose under the stern, belly up, with his 
lower jaw standing at right angles with his body.- He 
brought it down like the quick snap of a hound, cutting the 
boat in two, except on one gunwale. I just caught a glimpse 



356 XIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

of Welsh, the tub-oarsman, as he was squeezed in the clamp- 
ing jaw ; and the after-oarsman had his leg from the instep 
squeezed clean off. 

"The line fouled in the wreck, and the boat was carried 
right down, leaving only the oars to float us. One couldn't 
swim, and the wounded man was in a bad way. "We got 
them on the oars, when, to my' great relief, the bow, or 
big end of the boat, rose close to us, and we were able to 
cling to it. The whale rose again, however, and commenced 
nosing round the wreck, pushing it from side to side, and 
rolling the frightened men into the water as fast as they 
climbed on. 

"The old man saw our trouble now, and ran down Avith 
the ship to pick us up. As he came to just to windward of 
us, the whale made straight for the ship, and feebly butted 
her. Backing off, he returned and butted her again, rubbing 
his great head up and down her sides, with the best will for 
mischief. Loss of blood told, however, and finally he went 
into his flurry, and we were picked up by the mate's boat." 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 357 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

Captain Huntting, and fighting Whale off the Rio de la Plata. — Bomb-lance 
failed to kill. — Four Boats lost, and their Gear. — The Whale holds the 
Field. — A demoralized Crew allowed to desert. — Two Years out, and we 
double back: a running Sketch of Month's voyaging. — The Washing- 
ton, of Nantucket: two Men killed. — Her third Mate caught in the Jaw, 
and bitten. — The Ocean, of Nantucket: Mate killed. — Weigh Anchor in 
Valparaiso Harbor, and sail for Right -whale Grounds. — Bear versus 
Skunk ; or, Theory versus Fact. — Approach the Right Whale with mis- 
givings. 

Before bidding adieu to the sperm-whale, and passing to 
an account of the southern right whale, I will relate the ex- 
perience of Captain Huntting, off the Rio de la Plata. 

Some sage has remarked, by-the-way, that hunting tigers 
may be fine sport, but that when the tigers take to hunting 
the hunters, the sport has a different aspect. The aspect of 
whaling is not improved, certainly, when a ninety-barrel bull 
whale hunts on his own account in deep water. Such a one 
was met by Captain Huntting. When the monster was struck, 
he did not attempt to escape, but turned at once on the boat 
with his jaw, cut her in two, and continued thrashing the 
wreck until it was completely broken up. One of the loose 
boats picked up the swimmers, and took them to the ship. 
The other two boats went on, and each planted two irons in 
the irate animal. This aroused him, and he turned his full 
fury on them, crushing in their bottoms with the jaw, and 
not leaving them while a promising mouthful held together. 
Twelve demoralized men were in the water, anxious observers 
of his majestic anger. Two men who could not swim had, 
in their terror, climbed on his back and seated themselves 



358 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

astride forward of the hump, as perhaps the safest place from 
that terrible ivory-mounted war club which he had bran- 
dished with such awful effect. At one time another man 
was clinging to the hump with his hands. The boat which 
had gone to the ship with the crew of the first stove boat 
now returned, and took the swimmers on board. 

The whale had now six harpoons in him, and to these were 
attached three tow-lines of three hundred fathoms each. He 
manifested no disposition to escape, but sought to reduce 
still further the wreck about him. Boats, masts, and sails 
were entangled in his teeth; and if an oar or any thing 
touched him, he madly struck at it with his jaw. This was 
entirely satisfactory to Captain Hunttiug, who was preparing 
other boats to renew the fight. At length two spare boats 
were rigged, and these, with the saved boat, put off agaiu. 
The captain pulled on; but the whale saw the boat, and 
tried his old trick of sweeping his jaw through the bottom 
of it. She was thrown around out of his sweep, however, 
and the captain fired a bomb-lance, charged with six ounces 
of powder, which entered behind the fin and exploded in his 
vitals. Before the crew could get out of his way, " he tore 
right through my boat, like a hurricane, scattering all hands 
right and left." So said Captain Huntting. Now four boats 
were utterly lost, some twelve hundred fathoms of line, and 
all the gear. The remaining two boats were hastily and 
poorly provided, the men were gallied, the sun was going 
down, and the captain, when he was fished out, consented, to 
give up the day and cry beat. 

All hands went to work to fit other boats. Through the 
night, under shortened sail, the ship lay near the scene of 
conflict ; and while the weather was calm it was possible to 
keep track of the whale as he occasionally beat around. But 
the breaking day brought rough weather, and the captain 
proceeded to Buenos Ayres, as much to allow his men, who 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 359 

were mostly green, to run away, as for the purpose of refit- 
ting, as he knew they would be useless thereafter. In this 
design he was not thwarted. Most of them promptly de- 
serted, having had enough of wrestling with the fighting 
whale of the La Plata. 

Two years from home, and we are again swinging around 
the old orbit. As history repeats itself, so we double back 
on our old track ; to the Galapagos for terrapin, and a renew- 
al of the old delights in Nature's desolations ; to the Cocos 
Islands for water, and refreshment of the soul in the fertili- 
ty and beauty of Nature's garden ; to the Galapagos once 
more, where four men desert in a boat; to Payta, with its 
filth, drunkenness, and prostitution, until on April 4, of the 
third year out, we are in fat. 23° 10' S., long. 118° 27' W., 
running south-west. We have been picking up whales now 
and again, and adding to our experience, without meeting 
incidents which would bear repetition. We were disap- 
pointed in not touching at Easter Island, which we passed 
to the leeward. Took two more whales, and stood for Cal- 
lao, to recruit. 

May 28. We gladly came to anchor in the fine harbor of 
Callao. Hungry for the land, while I was furling sails my 
eyes wandered up the beautiful valley, through which runs 
the Rimac River, to the famed city of Lima, situated some 
three leagues inland, and I felt keenly that, with the oppor- 
tunity and desire to see so much of exceeding interest to 
me, my short liberty on shore and my very limited means, 
would preclude all hope of visiting a place of such historic 
interest. But I am only a whaleman, not a traveler; my 
business is to fasten only to such events as may rise within 
dart of my boat. Farewell, then, to the turbulent city of 
the Pizarros, once a gem in the crown of Spain. 

Inside of us lay anchored the North Carolina, the Pea- 
cock, sloop of war, the United States schooner Enterprise, 



360 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OB, 

the British frigate Action, the French frigate Venus, two 
armed brigs, one whaler besides ourselves, and a number of 
merchantmen. These, with many native coasting-vessels, 
and numerous boats pulling or sailing in various directions, 
gave a life and importance to the port which we had not be- 
fore witnessed on this side of the land. The brightness of 
the scene was enhanced by a state visit of the President to 
the North Carolina, and the British and French men-of-war. 
The yards were manned — the first time I had witnessed the 
ceremony, and certainly, when done on a ship so grand in 
her proportions as the North Carolina, it is majestic, and a 
fitting honor rendered by one nation to the chief of another. 
At the sound of the first gun of a national salute, seven hun- 
dred men — previously clustered about the masts — van out 
on the yards, and standing erect, each with a hand on his 
neighbors shoulder, presented the beautiful sight of a pyra- 
mid of men, reaching from the lower yards to the skysail- of 
each mast, their snow-white garments fluttering in the wind. 
Thus they stood, while the smoke of the great gnus clouded 
the surface of the water, and the deep booms echoed in the 
neighboring hills. 

The boat containing the President lay quietly on the wa- 
ter; but as the last gun sounded, it moved toward the Ac- 
tion, when the magnificent spectacle was repeated on a 
smaller scale. Here the French frigate took up the music, 
and her guns awakened the echoes, and the mariners of 
France fluttered, white as her lilies, against the ever-cloud- 
less sky of Peru. Thus we were welcomed from our long 
cruise to the port of Callao, and I hereby tender my grateful 
acknowledgments of the deserved honor, which three great 
nations united in rendering us. May they all grow in sense 
and honesty, and may their powder always mingle fraternal- 
ly as it did on this glorious May day ! 

After a few days spent in refitting ship, and getting off a 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 361 

supply of water and vegetables, we were allowed liberty on 
shore. We landed on a well-built pier, which also served as 
a breakwater, surmounted on the sea-face by a neat iron rail- 
ing. At the top of the landing-stairs and along the pier 
were stationed armed sentries, dirty and shabby beyond 
comparison with the most sea-stained whalemen. Could I 
say more ? Near the pier we saw a small market, and soon 
after, seated on an old gun, a couple of sailors might have 
been seen munching apples, which we here first met with on 
the west side of the Cape. And we stuck to the apples, al- 
lowing the tempting oranges, bananas, etc., to rest in peace. 
The houses we saw were one story high, flat-roofed, and from 
the harbor looked like a mud town in ruins. I visited what 
is called the lower fort, and was treated courteously, and 
shown every thing of interest, by an officer who could blend 
sufficient of English with his Spanish to make himself intel- 
ligible. He was a patriotic little fellow, and commented on 
the ruinous, unarmed condition of the fort, which was the 
more surprising as the people were at war with Chili, and 
expecting an invasion. But my surprise was increased as 
the same officer showed me through the castle, an enormous 
fortification, built in massive masonry, and requiring ten 
thousand men to garrison it. On its extended ramparts and 
bastions not a single gun was mounted. A few were seen 
barbed on the two enormous towers which centre the works, 
and these, with a water battery, completed the armament of 
perhaps the largest and strongest fort on the American con- 
tinent. Many of the guns have been removed to arm war- 
vessels, three of which were in the harbor when we were 
there, the largest being the St. Francisco. On board this 
vessel we found Philip Hyde, our old-time cooper's mate, who 
ran away from us in Selango, over two years ago. For some 
time he worked at his trade as carpenter in the city of Lima, 
when he easily made from eighty to one hundred dollars per 

16 



362 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

month ; but his old enemy rum ate it all, and finally he lost 
his employment. He shipped on board the JBrandyioine, 
again deserted, and then brought up on board this Peruvian 
man-of-war. We found him heart and home sick ; he had a 
wife and children in America, and wanted to get back to 

them. At his request we laid his case before Captain B , 

and soon enlisted his good feeling for the poor fellow. With 
his usual energy, the good man went on board the. North 
Carolina, acquainted Commodore Ballard with the case, 
and claimed Hyde as a deserter from his vessel. The claim 
was made, and the authorities on shore promptly granted an 
order for his release. The lieutenant of the Carolina pro- 
ceeded in his boat to the St. Francisco, but received the in- 
formation that Hyde had deserted the previous night. There 
was no redress; but the lieutenant was confident that the 
man had been spirited away, as he was a valuable man as 
carpenter of the ship. 

We have reason to believe that it is a regular system of 
the Peruvian naval service to tempt seamen to desert from 
their ships, and then, by means fair or foul, to get them on 
board their own vessels. The war with Chili made them 
doubly anxious to fill up their complement of men, as the 
Chilians were not a whit behind them in like practices. It 
is sad to think that in case of a naval engagement it will be 
mainly English and American blood which will flow in their 
senseless quarrel. While we lay here, six of our Kanakas 
were enticed away, leaving their clothes and "lay." The 
captain offered a reward of one hundred dollars for each 
man. Some of our men soon afterward saw two of the de- 
serters in the calaboose, partially intoxicated, and the cap- 
tain proceeded to the prison to recover them ; but they were 
then gone, the officer on guard denying, with protestations, 
any knowledge of them. The captain felt that the cards 
were stocked; so he withdrew the reward, and shipped five 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 363 

men, three being Spaniards. Thus we are more short-hand- 
ed than ever, and lower in the scale of civilization. 

We had brought the ship to a presentable shape, when 
Captain Kennedy, of the Peacock] and Commodore Ballard, 
of the North Carolina, honored us with a visit. The former 
gentleman had never before been on board a whale-ship, and, 
meaning no disrespect, I will say that he was in a degree 
verdant. It must have been " off-duty day " with them, for 
they took a leisurely survey fore and aft. The commodore 
Avas pleased to observe that the whale-ship was the best 
school for seamen that the world had known. I asked my- 
self if it was not true that if our midshipmen took primary 
lessons on board such ships, and graduated as boat-steerers 
before being transferred to the men-of-war, they would be 
more effective in storm or battle. One or two grand rows 
with fighting whales would make the boarding of a frigate's 
deck seem a holiday pastime. 

The Peacock has been to Oahu, where she took out of the 
fort all the American and English seamen confined there., 
three of our old crew among the rest. They are now on 
board that vessel. The consul was not on hand, as I under- 
stand he habitually has business on the north-west coast 
whenever our men-of-war visit his post. 

Of course, our opportunities are extremely limited to learn 
any thing about the social or political condition of the people 
we are visiting ; but enough reaches us to satisfy us of the 
wretchedness of the country, arising from the struggles of 
military chieftains for the control of affairs. The present 
ruler, Santa Cruz, we are told, instituted war with Chili to 
give employment to the soldiery, and to remove the military 
element from mischievous idleness, holding that a war was 
less expensive and hurtful than peace. Revolution is the 
order of the day, and pronunciamentos the common litera- 
ture of the country. Oppression and extortion prevail, and 



364 NIMROD OF TEE SEA; OR, 

every thing, life included, is held on an uncertain tenure. A 
horrible story is told of the last capture of Callao. The 
garrison had been marched by tens near to the burial-pits 
just south of the fort, and then fusiladed by the savage con- 
querors. The dead bodies were left to the dogs, hogs, and 
vultures. We were invited to visit the horrid scene, where 
evidences of the butchery still existed, but we declined. 

That such a disgusting exhibition should be tolerated is 
less surprising Avhen we consider the usual method of dis- 
posing of the dead of this brutal people. Commodore Wilkes, 
who visited the burial-ground, thus describes it: 

" Outside the walls of the fortress are several large vaults, 
filled with the dead, in all stages of decay, and on which the 
vultures were gorging themselves. This was a revolting 
spectacle. Many were thrown in naked, and covered with 
a few inches of sand. Great numbers of skeletons are still 
seen with pieces of clothing hanging to them. Dogs and 
vultures in great numbers were everywhere feeding upon 
the dead, or standing aloof fairly gorged with their disgust- 
ing repast." 

Is it a wonder that, after three weeks' sojourn in such a 
community, we hailed with joy the order to weigh anchor 
and put to sea? Death in a whale-boat, and a clean funeral 
in the sea was more to our American taste than association 
with these miserable Peruvians. 

Cruising leisurely up the coast of Peru, now standing well 
out to sea, now running in, and seeing the magnificent sun 
rise over the jagged wall of the Cordilleras, we spent our 
third Fourth of July as best we might. Our largest hog 
patriotically stepped into a crusty pie, to help us through the 
day, and such of the dried-apples as the Avorms had left us, 
combined with pumpkins, salt beef, and chopped figs, made 
a mince-pie. Posey wanted to add onions for a flavor, but 
he was overruled. These luxuries, with the national bever- 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 365 

age of switchel — molasses, water, and vinegar— and a quiet 
conscience and good-natured spirits, tided us over the na- 
tion's holiday. Having taken one small whale, we proceeded 
to Payta, and anchored for the fourth time in this pandemo- 
nium, with the object of replacing the men who had left us 
in Callao. Then cruising a while in Lee Bay, we spoke the 
Washington, of Nantucket, thirteen months out, with four 
hundred barrels of oil. She had two men killed by whales, 
and her third mate was very severely injured, having been 
caught across the thighs in a whale's mouth, and nearly 
drowned by the whale's repeated dipping beneath the sur- 
face while he held the poor wretch in that awful grip. The 
man escaped without broken bones, but the laceration of his 
flesh was awful, looking much as though two or three fence 
rails had been shot through the fleshy part of the thighs. 
He seemed content, as he exhibited his wounds, that they 
were no worse. We also spoke the Ocean, of Nantucket, 
eleven months out, with six' hundred barrels of oil. Her 
mate had been killed by a whale — just how, we did not 
learn. 

Aug. 20. We left Lee Bay, and bade a final adieu to the 
black volcanic peaks of the Galapagos ; cruised for a short 
time on the offshore ; again ran in sight of Easter Island ; 
ran into 33° S., and soon after made the islands of Massa- 
fuera and Juan Fernandez, for the story of which overhaul 
your ■" Robinson Crusoe." When found, make a note that 
it is now a penal settlement of the Government of Chili. 
Thence we went to Valparaiso, which would be worthy of 
more space than the line I employ, were I a voyager or trav- 
eler; but as we stopped only to recruit our wings for new 
flights in stranger seas, I have only time to get my fruits 
and stores aboard, before flying southward to acquaint my- 
self with the forms, manners, and customs of the baleen, 
or right whale. Having enjoyed ourselves in Valparaiso 



366 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

very much more than in any other Spanish port, we hove 
up our anchor, and bore away for right- whale feeding- 
grounds, among the islands which skirt the western coast of 
Patagonia. 

It must be admitted that we approached this new experi- 
ence with some trepidation, as officers and men were totally 
inexperienced in this fishery. The boys encouraged them- 
selves, however, with the general theory that the right 
whale, as compared with the spermaceti, is a clumsy, simple- 
witted, and altogether harmless creature. An amusing in- 
cident of my boyhood led me to distrust the theory, and 
stamped on my youthful mind a profound reverence for sim- 
ple facts. It happened somewhat in this wise : When quite 
a little fellow, with unbounded confidence in the hunting 
qualities of a wheezy old terrier who accompanied me, I 
made many venturesome expeditions in the neighboring 
woods and hills. On one occasion Carlo came to a very de- 
cided stand in front of a hole in the rocks which my hat 
would have covered. His cautious movement and nervous 
backward starts indicated the formidable nature of the ani- 
mal we had holed, and my sharp eyes detected long and 
black hairs adhering to the rock. I got a forked stick, and 
twisting it about the bottom of the cave, I brought away 
some more long and coarse black hair. All the circumstances 
flashed the thought of " bear " through my young head. 
The wildness of the secluded spot rendered bear possible ; 
the sharp bark of Carlo, who, hair on end, was dancing 
around, announced bear as probable ; and the wish being 
father to the thought, made bear positive. A suspicious 
odor from the end of the stick suggested skunk. The size 
of the hole was certainly against bear. But a young bear 
and a small hole could be reconciled, and moreover, I had nev- 
er smelled bear. So reasoning, I thrust in the well-sharpened 
fork, and twisted vigorously against a soft yielding mass, 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 367 

until a good hold was assured. Then I cautiously withdrew 
the rod, evidently bringing the tenant of the cave with it. 
Presently I was sure it was a black bear unwilling to come 
to the light; but suddenly an awful stench drove me back 
from the hole, and a skunk, in all its native ugliness, stood 
revealed. As I was fairly in for it, and the " varmint " had 
done his worst, I killed him on the spot. 

Moral : Whenever theory places a lai-ge animal in a small hole, reject 
the bear, and suspect the skunk. 

In accordance with this, I accepted the theory of the inof- 
fensive character of the right whale with allowance, especial- 
ly as we were sperm-whalemen, who had been accustomed to 
haul close and run broadside on, or, as the man-of-war's men 
would express it, " engage yard-arm and yard-arm." I adopt 
the naval lingo, that landsmen may better take my meaning. 



368 NIMEOD OF THE SEA; OR, 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Head of the Eight Whale. — Description of Drawings of Whale's Head. — 
Contrasts between the Right and Sperm Whales. — Different Manoeuvres 
of Boats necessary in attacking the two. — Dispositions of these Whales. 
— Natural History of the Right Whale better understood. — The Sperm- 
whale a Mystery. — The weak Point in the Right Whale, not mentioned 
by Scoresby. — Instant Arrest of forward Motion. — Pricking the Nose to 
direct the Course of the Whale. — Immediate Consequences of touching 
the Small. — Fastening to Right Whale. — Winrows of Brit, and Whaling- 
ground off Cliiloe Island; go on Whale. — Struck Blubber, and Iron 
failed to enter. — An Iron in Blow-hole, and Effect illustrated. — Large 
Right Whales. — Dimensions in Detail of Right Whale. — The upper Jaw 
considered as a Dining-room. — Tongue equals ten Oxen. — Mode of work- 
ing its sifting Apparatus. — Dimensions continued. 

In the baleen, or bone whales, there are no teeth ; instead 
of which, the mouth is provided with five or six hundred 
plates of a horn-like consistency (known as whalebone), at- 
tached by a deep gum to the upper jaw, and extending from 
the throat to the end of the narrow roof. These plates run 
parallel on either side, transversely with the sides, and are 
about one-fourth of an inch apart. The inner edge of the 
slab terminates in a hairy fringe, which, interlacing, forms 
an admirable sieve to retain the small mollusks, medusa, and 
jellies which form the food of the gigantic creatures. The 
gullet is very small, and said to be too contracted to admit 
even a herring; but this may be fairly questioned, when we 
consider the mass of water and minute food which must be 
taken in at a swallow. The cavity of the mouth, when the 
lips are closed, exclusive of the tongue, is equal in capacity 
to three hundred barrels, and the mass of the tongue may 
occupy two hundred and fifty barrels, leaving about fifty 




JPJ 

1 




B 



SECTION OF RIGHT WIIAT.k'S HEAT) (MOUTH SHUT). 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 371 

barrels charged with some eighty million animated forms to 
compose a mighty mouthful. Now a pipe three inches in 
diameter would be inadequate to pass such a volume, in the 
time the whale devotes to swallowing. However, I must 
forego this line of statement, as our business was with the 
blubber and oil-bearing parts of the dead, and with the ac- 
tion in chase and battle of the living whale. I had little op- 
portunity to study the general anatomy of the gigantic forms 
we so frequently carved ; and this is not a matter of especial 
regret, as they have been described very minutely in various 
histories of the whale. Nevertheless, the pictorial represen- 
tations of the head of the right whale have failed to convey 
to my mind a correct idea of the wonderful mechanism, the 
monstrous proportions, and the admirable adaptation of the 
parts. As in the course of our labors we shall dissect the 
head, and cut and hoist it piecemeal, I shall attempt, with 
such poor art as I may possess, to convey a machinist's view 
of the wonderful contrivance. And if successful in a degree, 
I may excite in other minds some of the wonder and admi- 
ration which impressed me when heaving at the ponderous 
windlass moving the fragments. 

I shall strive to preserve the proportions, forms, and posi- 
tions of the parts so as to convey a correct mechanical idea 
of the structure of the whale's head and mouth. 

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of the head of the right 
whale, with the lips closed ; the line C D, drawn through the 
spout-holes, is the line along which the upper jaw is severed 
from the head to secure the bone. The line A B is a line of 
intersection, by which Fig. 2 is drawn. 

Fig. 2 is a sectional drawing of the whale's head, showing 
the interior of the mouth, looking toward the opening of the 
gullet: a is the upper jaw ; b b, the lips; d, the throat; /, 
the tongue ; g g, the bone-plates ; h, the hairy sieve ; * i, the 
bone supporting the lower jaw. ' The 'dotted part in the 



373 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

tongue and lips exhibits the fatty matter penetrated by 
coarse-fibred muscular flesh, and is known as " plum-pud- 
ding." 

Fig. 3 shows the same, with the lower jaw depressed, and 
the lips thrown apart, as in the act of feeding. 

The right whale is the opposite of the sperm - whale in 
many important features. 

The sperm-whale is an habitue of the deep water, seldom 
found on soundings, and feeding on creatures of great size 
in the profoundest depths of the ocean. The right whale 
frequents the bays and shoal waters of the coasts ; it feeds 
on minute shrimps and mollusks, which float upon the sur- 
face of the sea or at moderate depths. 

In the sperm-whale the male is much larger than the fe- 
male. In the right whale the female attains the greatest 
bulk. 

In the sperm-whale the upper jaw, case, and junk form 
the great portion of the head, the under jaw being furnish- 
ed with ivory teeth. In the right whale, the lower jaw, with 
its great lips and tongue, is greatly disproportioned to the 
slender upper jaw, which is furnished with the elastic slabs 
of whalebone. 

In the sperm - whale the great respiratory canal is elon- 
gated, and terminates in a single spout-hole a little to one 
side, on the extreme end of the head. In the right whale 
this canal branches into two channels, which terminates in 
two spout-holes abont eighteen feet back from the nose. 

The head of the sperm-whale is impenetrable to the har- 
poon, and insensible to hurts. In the right whale the great 
lips and throat offer fair target and good holding to the 
whaleman's irons, while the extreme tip of its upper jaw is 
so sensitive that a prick of the lance or harpoon upon this 
spot will instantly arrest and deflect the motion of the whale. 
Of this I will speak more fully when we meet him in the boat. 




__J 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 375 

The sperm-whale is dangerous at either end ; but the mo- 
tions of its flukes are limited, as compared with the right 
whale. Its blows are delivered vertically; and when it 
strikes right or left the blow is performed by a rolling of 
the body. To compensate for this rigidity of the flukes, 
it is possessed of admirable skill in fencing with the jaw. 
The most fatal accidents in boats arise from this weapon. 
The motion of the jaw is quick, and its sweep tremendous. 
In a large whale rolling, with the jaw distended, the sweep 
may include a circle of forty feet, and woe be to the boat 
whose bottom receives the upward cut, while certain death 
follows the reception of the downward blow ! Thus it is 
possible for two boats placed forty feet apart to be broken 
by the same blow from the jaw of a rolling sperm-whale. 
The right whale, on the contrary, is comparatively harmless 
with the head, but is possessed of great lateral reach with 
the flukes, sweeping, as whalemen express it, from eye to eye. 

To judge from external evidence, the sperm-whale is 
much the more combative of the two. No large bull whale 
of this species is taken whose great square head is not scar- 
red and furrowed with marks of the teeth of rival bulls ; 
and often the shattered teeth, and broken or distorted jaws, 
attest the fierceness of their combats. The right whale, 
however, is incapable of more than severely paddling its 
enemy with its tail. 

The sperm-whale, of the two, is more regular and much 
longer in its periods of spouting, and of remaining under 
water. It will spout sixty or seventy times, and remain un- 
der water an hour or more — even when not pursued. The 
right whale spouts twelve or fifteen times, perhaps, and then 
descends for a short period. Both turn flukes, or lift the 
tail perpendicularly in the air, when they go down. The 
oil of the one is rich in spermaceti ; the other furnishes the 
lower-priced train-oil. 



376 NIMIiOD OF THE SEA; OR, 

The natural history of the right whale is comparatively 
well understood, from its coming more within the range of 
our observation ; and the time of gestation, the manner of 
bringing forth their young and nursing them, and the man- 
ner of their feeding, are accurately described. But the nat- 
ural histoiy of the sperm-whale is yet as much a mystery as 
when the first dead whale floated ashore to furnish precious 
medicine to the ills of man. Its history is as obscure as that 
of the earthquake, the aurora borealis, and the nebulous 
light of the comet ; and every wise man feels entitled to have 
his guess on the subject. 

Had the right whale the habit of "jawing back," as the 
sperm-whale has, it would be next to impossible to secure 
him by the present weapons and methods of our whalemen. 
But, as we are told, the wind is tempered to the shorn lamb ; 
so the blow of the whale is tempered to the hunter's powers. 
Read Scoresby, Jardin, and Beale, the fathers of whaling lit- 
erature, and they will not reveal the secret of the weakness 
of the right whale. Whalemen and naturalists, they have 
failed to record the important fact, that on the tip of the 
rpper jaw there is a spot of very limited extent, seeming- 
ly as sensitive in feeling as the antennse of an insect; as 
keenly alive to the prick of lance or harpoon as a gentle- 
man's nose is to the tweak of finger and thumb. However 
swiftly a right whale may be advancing on the boat, a slight 
prick on this point will arrest his forward motion at once. 
I think it safe to say that he will not advance a single yard 
after the prick is given. He will either pitch his head, and 
round down like a great wheel turning on a fixed axis, or he 
will turn shortly to the right or left, according to the part 
of the nose which is pricked. Sometimes he will throw his 
enormous head straight in the air, and settle backward tail 
first, by this motion exposing his whole throat to the thrust 
of the harpoon or lance: he may take any course, save the 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 377 

one directly forward. It seems almost as though this sensi- 
bility to touch was a guard against the collision of parts so 
important to existence with other objects, and which are 
beyond the line of vision. And it is also endowed with a 
backing power which is simply marvelous, when we con- 
sider the enormous weight moving forward with great 
speed. 

This very* marked peculiarity of the right whale is con- 
stantly taken advantage of by the whaleman, who, working 
about its head completely out of the reach of its active 
flukes, parries the charge of the enraged monster as deftly 
as the fencer glances the thrust of his antagonist's sword. 
If an advancing whale glides under the boat, and the back, 
or " small," touches the keel, then, quick as the lightning 
flash, the responsive flukes will whip up, and send boat and 
crew into the air, amidst a perilous tangle of kinking line, 
sharp harpoons, lances, spades, hatchets, knives, and boat-gear 
generally. An accursed attribute of such sharp company is 
to travel point or edge first, and form closer acquaintance 
than is agreeable. 

Knowing this trick of the right whale's flukes, and expe- 
rienced only in the dangers of the spermaceti's ugly, insensi- 
ble head, it required my very best nerve to stand unmoved 
at the head of our dancing cockle-shell, measuring the ca- 
dences of the rise and fall of our first right whale. His blow- 
ing formed the measure of my breathing as I awaited the 
decisive moment. The great snout glided within a yard of 
the prow, and then, with steady hand, I directed the point 
of my iron against the little centre of sensation. Success- 
fully pricked, the great hulk, without losing speed, changed 
its direction as by magic, and rounded down without touch- 
ing the boat, exposing his great back, on which fifteen feet 
breadth of "black skin" tore the harpoon from my hand. 
Following this there was a cloud of foam, a roar of broken 



378 NIMROD OF THE SEA ; OA', 

waves, and the whirl of the line through the " chocks," which 
gave a sequel to my story of the right whale. 

In the early spring of the Southern seas, the latter part of 
September, we reached our cruising-ground off Chiloe Isl- 
and. The first indication that we were on whaling-ground 
were the red winrows of right-whale feed, or " brit," which 
in long clouds reddened the surface. We were not long in 
waiting before several whales were seen feeding on the rich, 
red pasture-field spread about us. The boats were lowered 
at once ; and as we pulled on to a large whale feeding, with 
its great basket elevated to the spout-hole, and slowly plow- 
ing its way across our bows, the captain laid us on just abaft 
the head. My old habit of avoiding the head of the sperm- 
whale led to the mistake of heaving the harpoon at his sub- 
merged body on the opposite side of the boat. On feeling 
the prick, the w T hale settled away, and my iron came back 
doubled up. It had struck him fairly, but had not entered. 
We were at a loss to account for the mishap ; but further 
experience taught us that when the whale is doubled into a 
bow in any direction, there is formed in the concave " slack 
blubber." This is impenetrable to the best-thrown harpoon. 
Ignorantly my iron had been hurled against slack blubber, 
and we lost that whale. 

Mr. F did better. He pulled on much in our manner, 

and his iron was planted just behind the blow-hole. The il- 
lustration appended shows the whale as it appeared to the 
astonished whaleman the moment after it was struck. 

" Why," said Hinton, afterward, " I could have sworn in 
court that it had a dozen tails, and they were all going quick, 
too." 

We had little trouble in killing it : we worked about the 
head, pricking the nose whenever it came down on the boat, 
and causing it to mill, or turn short in its course, and afford 
us good chances at the life. It ran less than was usual with 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 



3?9 



the sperm-whale, and manifested no intention to fight. In 
cutting-in, we were also struck with the great depth of the 
blubber, and its softness and oiliness, as compared with that 
of the sperm-whale, and the greater viscidity, or stickiness, 
of the oil. The upper jaw was a curiosity to us. The bone 



':&> 







GOING ON EIGHT WHALE. 

was about nine feet long — very much less than is often tak- 
en ; but I suppose a fair average size. How much oil this 
whale made was undetermined, as we piled fresh blubber in 
the room before it was tried out. Long after this event, 
Captain Isaiah West, of New Bedford, informed me that he 



380 . NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

had taken a right whale on the False Banks which made two 
hundred and fifty barrels of oil, and whales of even larger 
size have been taken. Of the bow-head, or Greenland whale, 
such as is found in the Sea of Okhotsk and Behring Strait, 
our modern whalemen have taken cows which stowed three 
hundred barrels of oil, and three thousand pounds of bone, 
single slabs of which measured seventeen feet in length. 
Captain Sullivan and Captain Taber, both of New Bedford, 
speak of bone of the bow-head which measured seventeen 
feet. 

I should like to convey to the reader some idea of the di- 
mensions of the creature from which such bone is taken. 
To do so is only possible by entering into the details of the 
various parts, with their sizes, and by comparison with ob- 
jects familiar to the mind. The blubber, or " blanket," of 
such a whale would carpet a room twenty-two yards long, 
and nine yards wide, averaging half a yard in thickness. 
You good, loving housewives, think of such a blanket-piece 
for the dark, cold nights of winter ! And you farmer boys, 
set up a saw-log, two feet in diameter and twenty feet in 
length, for the ridge-pole of the room we propose to build. 
Then raise it in the air fifteen feet, and support it with pieces 
of timber seventeen feet long, spread, say nine feet. This 
will make a room nine feet wide at the bottom, two feet 
wide at the peak, and twenty feet long, and will convey an 
idea of the upper jaw as shown in the longitudinal and trans- 
verse sections of the head in the illustrations, pp. 370, 373; 
h will represent the complete room, a being the saw-log, and 
g g the slanting supports composed of bone, which in a large 
whale will weigh three thousand pounds. Now refer to the 
illustrations again, and you will perceive that the wall of 
bone is clasped by the white blubbery lips, b b, which at the 
bottom are four feet thick, tapering to a blunt edge, where 
they fit into a rebate sunk in the upper jaw. The throat, d, 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 381 

is four feet thick, and is mainly blubber interpenetrated by 
fibrous, muscular flesh. 

The lips and throat of a two -hundred -and -fifty -barrel 
whale should yield sixty barrels of oil, and, with the support- 
ing jaw-bones, i i, will weigh as much as twenty-five oxen of 
one thousand pounds each. Attached to the throat by a 
broad base is the enormous tongue, the size of which can be 
better conceived by the fact that twenty-five barrels of oil 
have been taken from one. Such a tongue would equal in 
weight ten oxen. The spread of lips, as the whale plows 
through the fields of "brit," is about thirty feet. Some- 
times in feeding the whale turns on its side, so as to lay the 
longer axis of the cavity of the mouth horizontally. Keep- 
ing the lower lip closed, and the upper one thrown off, and 
standing perpendicularly, it scoops along just under the sur- 
face where the " brit " is always most densely packed. After 
thus sifting a track of the sea fifteen feet wide and a quarter 
of a mile in length, the water foaming through the slatted 
bone, and packing the mollusks upon the hair-sieve, the whale 
raises the lower jaw; but still keeping the lips apart, it 
forces the spongy tongue into the cavity of the sieve, driv- 
ing the water with great force through the spaces between 
the bone. Then, closing the lips, it disposes of the catch, 
and repeats the operation until satiated. 

By these details I have striven to convey an idea of the 
completeness and the immensity of the apparatus by which 
this largest of animals is enabled to gleam a plentiful harvest 
of the smallest creatures' of the sea. 

The tail of such a whale is about twenty : five feet broad 
and six feet deep, and considerably more forked than that 
of the spermaceti. The point of junction with the body is 
about four feet in diameter, the vertebra about fifteen inches ; 
the remainder of the small being packed with rope-like ten- 
dons from the size of a finder to that of a man's les;. The 



383 NIMROD OF TEE SEA; OR, 

great rounded joint at the base of the skull gleams like an 
ivory sphere, nearly as large round as' a carriage - wheel. 
Through the greatest blood-vessels, more than a foot in di- 
ameter, surges, at each pulsation of a heart as large as a 
hogshead, a torrent of barrels of blood heated to 104°. The 
respiratory canal is over twelve inches in diameter, through 
which the rush of air is as noisy as the exhaust pipe of a 
thousand horse -power steam-engine; and when the fatal 
wound is given, torrents of clotted blood are sputtered into 
the air or over the nauseated hunters. In conclusion, the 
right whale has an eye scarcely larger than a cow's, and an 
ear that would scarcely admit a knitting-needle. 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Try-works overboard. — Dreaming. — Adventure of Captain I H 

with a fighting Eight Whale. — Two Men lost, and fearful Peril of the 
Captain. — A Fight of Three-quarters of an Hour. — Ship fails to part 
the Combatants ; Captain saved by Mate's Boat. — Why Right Whales 
sink. — Greenland Whales, or Bow-head. — First Bow-head taken by Cap- 
tain Covill. — Entrance of Whalemen to Behring Strait. — Edible parts 
of the Whale. — Sad Picture of the Ship and Crew. — In Talcahuana. — 
Weigh Anchor for Home. — Doubling Cape Horn. — Touch at Pernam- 
buco, and meet Gale off Bermuda. — Cold and Fog off Long Island. — 
Land in New London. — Hospitality. — Profit and Loss Account. — Ar- 
rive in Philadelphia, and Finis. 

Our experience with the right whale was so limited that 
I can not venture to dwell at length on it ; but after recount- 
ing somewhat at length interesting incidents in the experi- 
ences of others, I will proceed on the homeward voyage. 
We remained on the ground about two months, and took 
eleven whales, which made six hundred and fifty barrels. 
The bone was cleaned from the gum, and tied into bundles. 
Now the ship was declared full, having about eighteen hun- 
dred of sperm, and six hundred and fifty barrels of whale 
oil on board. We joyfully received the order to tear down 
the try-works. All hands went to work with a will, and the 
oily, sooty bricks were passed overboard. The pots were 
secured below; the old chopped sheathing amidships was 
torn from the decks, and the sheathing outside the gangway 
removed. Every thing was cleaned up, and our deck-room 
seemed boundless, now the cumbersome try-works were re- 
moved. All the dangers of the voyage seemed ended, and 
we had only some ten or twelve thousand miles of sea to 



384 NWROB OF THE SEA; OB, 

navigate, and we should be home again. But my mind 
looked forward with something of misgiving, for up to this 
time (thirty-eight months from home) I had not received a 
single word from my kindred ; nor had I seen a newspaper 
from my native city ; so that all at home was in a cloud of 
doubt and uncertainty. Naturally my mind anticipated the 
continuance of a life which had become familiar and easy to 
me. Having doubled the forecastle, the way was opening 
to whatever might be my deserts in the boats or on board 
the ship. 

We now bore away to the north, to run to Talcahuana 
for repairs, and to recruit for the homeward passage. 
Much of the spare time was devoted to overhauling our 
clothing and increasing our warmth by doubling our flannel 
shirts, or placing one within another, and closely stitching 
them with blue woolen yarn, much in the manner of quilt- 
ing. Thus we succeeded in making an admirable garment 
for the cold weather off Cape Horn, and on the American 
coast in March. 

As the ship is plowing her way to our port, I will take 
the opportunity to insert incidents in right -whale fishing 
which have come to my knowledge since the journal was 
written, premising that they have been received by word of 
mouth from the actors, who are whaling captains, now re- 
tired from the business, and living in safety and ease on 
well-earned fortunes. 

In *a peaceful, happy home on Long Island, surrounded by 
a beautiful family, I listened to the following account of an 
encounter with a fighting right whale. I omit the name of 
the narrator, for I feel that the grand old man would shrink 
from the appearance of parading his whaling experiences. 
I call him an old man, as his snowy hair and beard indicate 
the snows of many winters; yet he has only filled forty-six 
years of life. Gigantic in form and power, with a head to 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. ' 385 

attract the sculptor's attention, and a countenance to arrest 
the eye of a woman, he modestly told me this story of a 
prolonged struggle for life with an enraged whale. As I 
regarded him, with the battle-fire lighting up his pleasant, 
beautiful eye, and as I measured his brawny figure, it seem- 
ed to me that he was just the man to plunge into a battle 
with the leviathan. In such qpntests he was mainly a vic- 
tor ; but he carries scars, and the snow-white hairs of pre- 
mature age, to tell of the unequal conflict. 

We had been conversing on his experiences with the vi- 
cious sperm-whale, and I asked him whether the right whale 
ever manifested the same fighting propensities. He replied 
that he had met with one remarkable instance in his own 
experience, and continued : 

"My second mate had fastened to a large whale that 
seemed disposed to be ugly ; so I pulled up and fastened to 
her also. I went into the bow and darted my lance ; but the 
whale rolled, so that I missed the life and struck into the 
shoulder-blade. It pierced so deep into the bone (perhaps 
through it) that I could not draw it out ; the whole body of 
the whale shivered aud squirmed, as though in great pain. 
Then, turning a little, she cut her flukes, taking the boat 
amidships. The broadside was stove in, and the boat rolled 
over, the crew having jumped into the sea. I cut the line in 
the chocks at the same moment, to save being run under with 
a kink. The crew were soon safely housed on the bottom 
of the upturned boat, or swimming and clinging to the keel. 
The second mate wanted to cut his line and pick us up, but 
I foolishly told him to hold on and kill the whale ; that we 
were doing quite as well as could be expected. But I had 
bragged too soon. Just then the whale came up on the full 
breach, and striking the boat, she went right through it, 
knocking men and wreck high in the air. Next the great 
bulk fell over sideways, like a small avalanche, right in our 

17 



386 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OE, 

midst ; and spitefully cut the corners of her flukes right and 
left. In the surge and confusion, two poor fellows went 
down: we saw no sign of them afterward, and the water 
was so dark, stained with blood, that we could not see into it. 

"As the whale came feeling around with her nose, she 
passed close by me. I was afraid of the flukes, and got hold 
of the warp, or iron pole, <*r her small, or something, and 
towed a little way till she slacked speed a little. Then I 
dove under, so as to 'clear the flukes, and came up astern of 
them. I was in good time; for having felt the boat, she 
turned over and threshed the spot with a number of blows 
in quick succession, pounding the wreck into splinters. She 
must have caught sight of me, for she came up on a half 
breach, and dropped her head on me, and drove me, half 
stunned, deep under water. Again I came up near the small, 
and again dove under the flukes. From this time she seemed 
to keep me in sight. Again and.again — the mate told me 
afterward — she would run her head in the air and fall on my 
back, bruising and half drowning me as I was driven down 
in the water. 

" Sometimes I caught hold of the line, or something at- 
tached to the mad brute, and would hold until a sweep of the 
flukes would take my long legs and break my hold. The 
second mate's boat had cut long ago, and watched her 
chance to pick up the surviving crew, but had not been able 
to reach me; for when the whale's eye caught the boat, she 
would dash for it so wickedly that the whole crew, became 
demoralized, owing to the loss of the two men, and the sight, 
to them, more terrible than to me, perhaps, of the peril the 
captain was in. To husband my strength, I gave over swim- 
ming, and, treading water, I faced the danger, and several 
times by sinking avoided the blow from her head. As a 
desperate resource, I strove with my pointed sheath-knife to 
prick her nose : I did all a strong man was in duty bound to 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 387 



do to save his life. The cooper, who was ship-keeper, ran 
down with the ship, intending to cut between the whale and 
myself ; but we were at too close quarters. He was afraid to 
run me down, lest he might tear me with the ragged copper. 
Thus for three-quarters of an hour that whale and I were 
fighting: the act of breathing became labored and painful; 
my head and shoulders were sore from bruises, and my legs 
had been pounded by his flukes ; but it was not until I found 
myself swimming with my arms alone, and that my legs 
were hanging paralyzed, that I felt actually scared. Then 
it looked as if I couldn't hold out much longer; I had seen 
the ship close beside me, and the second mate's boat trying 
to get in to me, and throwing me lines, or something to float 
on. But I failed to reach them. Now these things seemed 
very far off; that was the last I remembered, until I came 
to on board the ship. 

"I was afterward told that the first mate, in answer to a 
signal from the ship, had come up, and seeing me feebly pad* 
dling with my hands and not answering to his hail, he put 
straight into the fight. The whale saw them coming, and 
made for them. The men sprang to their oars, and the mate 
had only time to seize my collar, while they pulled their best 
to escape from the furious whale. They thus gained time 
to take me into the boat, seemingly a drowned man. The 
mate had true pluck. Leaving me to the care of the crew 
on board, he put back for the whale. As he afterward said, 
' She was too dangerous a cuss to run at large in that pas- 
ture-field.' Watching a chance, he got a ' set ' on her over 
the shoulder-blade, and sent the red flag into the air. This 
tamed her ; she sagged around for a time, and settled away 
dead. The mate then came on board and reported sunk 
whale ; and I was put to bed, a mass of bruised flesh. It was 
several weeks before I was able to take my place in the head 
of the boat again." 



388 NIMROD OF TEE SEA; OR, 

A peculiar feature in right-whaling is the considerable 
number which sink on being killed. This rarely occurs with 
the sperm-whale. With the hump-back it is the rule, and 
therefore this fishing is carried on in shallow sounds and 
bays. On putting the question, " Why do right whales 
sink ?" scarcely two men will give the same reason in reply. 
Captain West, when master of the Adeline Gibbs, in conver- 
sation with two Arctic whalemen, at Maui, gave the follow- 
ing answer : " To lance a right whale over the shoulder- 
blade, directing the lance downward, will kill it in the short- 
est time ; but he will be almost certain to sink. Such a 
wound will be followed by a rushing escape of air, manifest- 
ing itself in large and continuous bubbles, rising through 
the water. When this occurs the whale is certain to sink." 
Therefore, he holds to the theory that whales are furnished 
with a sound, or air bladder, like fish, and that through no 
other cause than injury to this bladder could the whale set- 
tle instantly as it does. The two captains above mentioned 
stated that on their last cruises one had taken nine whales, 
without one sinking. The other had sunk eight whales, 
and prided himself on the fatal thrust of his lance over the 
shoulder. 

It is also a curious fact in the history of whaling, that 
when our right- whalemen first met the Greenland whale in 
the Sea of Okhotsk, they did not recognize it as a whale 
worth the trouble of taking, but classed it among the hump- 
backs, or " sulphur-bottoms." Captain West informed me 
of a captain, whose name has escaped me, who, when he first 
visited the Northern seas, found himself surrounded by what 
he thought worthless whales, and so missed his chance to fill 
up at once. The whale he saw is known among American 
whalemen as the bow-head, on account of the higher arch 
of the upper jaw, as compared with the right whale. Large 
as is the head of the latter, that of the bow-head is larger 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 389 

and longer. The difference which first strikes the observer 
is the great prominence of the sjiout-holes of the bow-head ; 
hence it is sometimes called the " steeple-top." As the whale 
lives on the surface, this steeple becomes the prominent point, 
as the hump of the spermaceti. It differs from its congener 
of the Southern seas, in having no barnacles along the edge 
of the lips. Upon the nose, or on the projection above the 
eyes, its bone is also longer ; the blubber much thicker, soft- 
er, and richer in oil. In other respects it closely resembles 
the right whale. 

The first discovery of the great value of this whale, as I 
am informed, was about the year 1846. The Mount Ver- 
non, of New Bedford, Captain George A. Covill, was cruis- 
ing in the Sea of Okhotsk for l'ight whales, which were plen- 
ty, and the captain had his pick for most of the time. But 
one day his blubber-room was empty, and no sperm-whales 
were immediately about the ship, when a bow-head was dis- 
covered a mile to leeward. The first and second mates' boats 
were sent down, with the option of fastening or not, as seem- 
ed best. Their course was watched from the deck, when 
they were observed to heave up their oars at a short dis- 
tance from the suspicious-looking monster, as though study- 
ing his motions. Captain Covill now directed his atten- 
tion to more distant right whales. After a time the mates 
went on to the bow-head, and with little trouble killed him. 
When towed alongside, they estimated it as about equal to 
a seventy -barrel right whale. But they were pleasantly sur- 
prised by the great thickness of the blubber, and the length 
and weight of the bone. The prize tried out some one hun- 
dred and fifty barrels. 

It was not until the next year that Captain Boyce, of the 
Superior, made the first cruise inside Behring Strait, where 
bow-heads were found in great numbers and of great size. 
Captain Covill took two whales at one lowering, which 



390 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 

stowed five hundred barrels, and he estimated the tongues at 
twenty-three barrels each. He has found these whales less 
supple and dangerous than either the right or sperm. They 
are now only found along the edge of the ice. Alarmed by 
the persistent hunt of the crowd of ships, they are returning 
farther to the north, to find refuge in Symmes's Hole, or 
Kane's open sea, neither of which have been penetrated by 
our whalemen. 

I may state, for the enlightenment of the gastronomer, 
that the thin edge of the right whale's lip is of a gelatinous 
nature, and when placed in the copper settler or cooler, so as 
to be surrounded by the boiling oil for about six hours, it 
becomes of the consistence of a jelly, which, eaten with salt, 
pepper, and vinegar, closely resembles pigs' feet. The tubu- 
lar shells which are found on the nib of the nose are also 
eaten, when boiled in the same way. No part of the sperm- 
whale is eaten, however; but I suppose an excellent quality 
of glue might be made from the ten tons of white horse 
found in the head. 

About the middle of November, being over three years 
from home, we dropped anchor in the land-locked harbor of 
Talcahuana, to refit ship for the passage round Cape Horn, 
and our long home voyage. Our poor ship presented a sorry 
sight, as we stood up the harbor. Time and the elements 
had done their work. The sails were patched and repatch- 
ed ; the newer cloths inserted contrasting, in their whiteness, 
with the older. Our rigging was frayed, and loose ends 
were flying crazily in the air. The paint of the spars was 
lost, while that on the sides was blistered and broken. The 
copper was much worn, and rolled up. Rough barnacles 
and waving grass fouled the bottom, and clogged the ves- 
sel's motion. Thus we presented a striking and painful con- 
trast to the dandy clipper which left New London three years 
ago. Sony as was our exterior, it was cheerful, however, as 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 391 

compared with the internal condition of affairs. The pro- 
visions we had brought from home were exhausted, and re- 
placed by worse supplies picked up at Valparaiso. Our beef 
required much practice before it would remain on the stom- 
ach. Even when the offended nose endured, the stomach 
protested ; and had it not been for the abundant supply of 
molasses to lubricate our gritty, sandy biscuit, we must have 
gone under. Our slop-chest was exhausted, and we made 
shift by patching and working old sail-cloth into our cloth- 
ing. 

Our voyage was a poor one, and the " lays " of the men 
were exhausted, and most of them were in debt to the ship. 
Our crew, short-handed and disheartened, were morose and 
quarrelsome, only a few of the original remaining. The 
ship so loved became almost a prison to me, and long since 
I ceased to keep a journal of the constantly recurring disa- 
greeable incidents of the life about me. I became a human 
terrapin, shutting my shell, and waiting for the weary months 
to bring deliverance. We had all long since given up the 
expression " When I get home," and adopted the hopeless 
"If I get there." Now that the voyage was nearly over, I 
failed to find a joy in the thought of it, and time and events 
were indifferently accepted as matters of course. 

In such moods, neither glad nor sorry, penniless, and with- 
out resources, we mechanically went through our duties, or 
wore away the tedium of liberty on shore. When they told 
me of the great earthquake of two years ago, which swallow- 
ed up the city of Concepcion, only a few miles from our last 
port, it failed to interest me. " Of course earthquakes will 
swallow cities," I muttered ; " why not ?" 

Thus drearily our recruitment went on until the prepara- 
tions of the ship were completed. A new set of sails were 
bent, the rigging was tarred down, the ends were stopped, 
and ratlines seized ; and, as far as our lockers would afford, 



393 NIMROD OF THE SEA ; OR, 

paint was renewed. We felt in a degree more decent as the 
Chelsea put on new clothes, and stronger morally as we 
scraped the fouling shells and grass from her bottom. Then, 
having a good supply of the fine fruits and vegetables of Chili 
on board, we hove the anchor and stood to sea, minus five of 
the crew, who, having nothing to draw at the end of the voy- 
age, deserted. The two Spaniards shipped in Callao were 
discharged. We were still strong enough, as a crew merely, 
to navigate the ship ; and as we were passing the Cape from 
the westward, and in midsummer, we had no concern. 

We doubled the stormy point, with the rocky, mountain- 
ous cape in sight. A brisk southerly breeze, in twenty-four 
hours, wafted us from a degree north of the Cape in the Pacific 
to the same distance north of it in the Altantic. Running 
down the coast, and experiencing a La Plata thunder-storm, 
we touched the Brazilian coast, sending a boat into Per- 
nambuco to procure a few supplies and some tobacco. We 
then bore away to the north, giving a wide berth to the 
West India Islands, and met inhospitable welcome in a three- 
days' gale, north of the Bermudas. We lost our flying jib 
and boom, with foretop-gallant-mast; and our decks were 
swept, and bulwarks and cook's galley washed overboard. 
Two of our boats were smashed on the cranes. This was, 
by odds, the severest gale experienced in the voyage, and 
served to stir the stagnating blood of all hands: Having 
something to fight, gave them a new interest in living, and 
made existence worth the struggle. As we neared our north- 
ern coast, we boarded several coasting-vessels, and obtained 
scant supplies of beans, tobacco, and other necessaries of life. 
Off the eoast of Long Island we were for several days en- 
A'eloped in fogs, and had to feel our way cautiously, by sound- 
ing, for the mud which marks the bottom off Montauk Light. 

These were the most miserable days of the voyage. It 
was in the latter part of March ; the weather was cold, and 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 393 

the fog penetrated to the very marrow of the shivering, half- 
clad wretches, who, barefooted, held the long watches of the 
wet decks. The watch below brought little comfort, as the 
forecastle was damp, and all our clothing and blankets were 
perfectly wet. At length the fog lifted, however, and the 
cry of " Land ho !" told of home in sight. But none rushed 
on deck to gladden their eyes with the low sandy shore 
which lay close under our larboard beam. " Land ho !" Of 
course the land was there ; it always had been there ; it al- 
ways would be there. A week more or less, a day or so, what 
mattered it to the wearied souls who were coming, sore and 
worn, from a flight of ninety thousand miles, and of forty- 
one months' duration. 

On a bright Sunday morning in the last of March, the sul- 
len plunge of a single anchor in the mouth of the Thames 
announced the voyage ended. The sails were carelessly roll- 
ed up. on the yards; no pains taken to dress the yard-arms 
neatly, pass the gaskets symmetrically, or to form the bunt 
ship-shape and sailor-fashion. At 9 a.m. the ship-keepers 
came on board, and at 10 a.m., while the shore -folk were 
warmly and decently clad, thronging from comfortable homes 
to church, a band of barefooted barbarians landed on the 
snow-covered, icy streets of New London. Our soiled, tat- 
tered clothing, our wild, haggard aspect, contrasted fearful- 
ly with the respectability — we were shocking ! 

A worthy man came to me, and taking my hand, asked 
my name. On being told, he said, 

"Why that is my name also; I have a son on a whale- 
ship. Come right home with me; I guess I won't go to 
church to-day." 

So he and his good wife turned about and took the poor 
waif, without questioning, to their blessed home ; and will 
not the good Lord overlook the blank in their church pew 
on that morning? An unwonted tenderness stole over the 

17* 



394 



NIMROD OF THE SEA; OB, 




JOBT LANDED. 



rude sailor as the gentlewoman ministered to his wants, and, 
after he had done eating, with tears in her good, motherly 
eyes, she inquired whether we had seen the ship in which 
her boy was growing to be such a poor man as she saw be- 
fore her. 

Owing to difficulties in settling the voyage, some three 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 



395 



weeks passed before our accounts were balanced. Of some 
sixty -five dollars which came to me, after rigging myself 
and Charley Lings in blue jackets, trowsers, and pumps, and 
paying for our two passages to New York, there remained 
means to buy a ticket to Philadelphia, and a clean five dol- 
lars in my pocket. 

After dark, on a Saturday night, I arrived in my native 
city, and entered the first tavern, not to drink, but to as 
certain the whereabouts of some friends. An hour there- 
after I entered a brother's door, to the surprise of his beau- 
tiful young wife, who little dreamed, when she accepted her 
new life, that such an invasion was at all probable. But she 
met the dispensation bravely, and we all sat up late, running 
over the incidents of the voyage. As I passed into blissful 
sleep, I knew that the voyage of the Chelsea was at an end, 
and that there were those yet left who could love the re- 
turned wanderer. 




"me plus ultra..' 



APPENDIX A. 






At the back of Kelley's watch-maker's shop in New Bedford, 
there is a place of assembly for the whaling-captains of that city. 
Perhaps there is no other single spot on the earth so favorable for 
receiving information regarding the business, or where so many 
men of the largest experience daily meet. 

Wishing to obtain their views regarding the habits, etc., of 
whales, I addressed a series of questions to Captain G. A. Covill, 
with the request that they should be submitted to the captains of 
New Bedford. The appended letter resulted : 

"Since writing you, I have complied with your request by making 
known to the captains at Kelley's your desire to obtain reliable informa- 
tion concerning the habits of the* sperm and right whale. I read your 
letter appealing to them for such information, and any other that would 
be useful to you in the work you have undertaken. All seem interested, 
and many express a wish that you may give to the world a book that 
will not only be interesting but truthful. All agree that such a book on 
this subject has never been published. To some of the questions you pro- 
pose there is no disagreement of opinion, while to others there is quite a 
diversity. 

" To your first question, all agree that the right whale is frequently seen 
making passage from one feeding-ground to another. He never crosses 
the equator, and is seldom if ever seen below lat. 25°. The right whale 
of the north latitude is very much larger than that of the south, the for- 
mer averaging one hundred and fifty barrels, the latter about seventy bar- 
rels. The polar, or bow-head, whale of the Arctic resembles the right 
whale, yet differs from him in that it has no bonnet, or protrusion, with 
deep-set barnacles on its nose : the skin is smoother, the head longer, and 
the bone in the head longer and smoother, weighing from fifteen hundred 
to two thousand pounds, the length of the longest bone being twelve feet." 

Question 2, "Opinions are about equally divided, many thinking that 
both the sperm and right whales- can stay under water as long as they 
choose ; others think they must and do seek the surface quite often, if not 
at regular intervals. I think thetformer have the best of the argument, 



398 APPENDIX A. 



for they cite instances in their experience when whales, after spouting a 
usual number of times, have gone down, and, notwithstanding that every 
thing was favorable for seeing a whale five miles or more, no whale ever 
appeared. As I told you when here, I have experienced the same thing, 
and under the same favorable circumstances. I and others have known 
whales to come up close to the ship, no whale having been seen before on 
that day. Without going his length he would get through spouting, turn 
flukes, and never be seen again." 

Question^. "The running speed of the sperm and right whales, when 
gallied, is supposed to be from ten to twelve miles an hour." 

Question 4. "When struck, he will frequently go twenty to twenty-five 
miles per hour for a short time, when he will generally stop or ' bring to,' 
and give the ' boat-header' a chance to kill him." 

Question 5. "Sperm-whales have been known to run out three hundred 
fathoms of line in four minutes, and sometimes to run out six hundred 
fathoms in sounding." 

Question 6. " Two captains say they have seen eighty-barrel sperm-whales 
breach entirely out of the water. I know the men, and believe them." 

Question 7. "To this question I will have to devote another letter. I am 
acquainted with two or three captains who have had severe experience 
with fighting whales. I will see them soon as possible, get their stories, 
and send them to you." 

Question 8. "Sperm-whales are sometimes taken on soundings on the 
American coast, off the Galapagos Islands, and off Cape St. Thaddeus, in 
from forty to ninety fathoms. I can not at this time call to mind by what 
ships or captains they were taken." 

Question 9. " I can not learn, and do not think, that the great squid of 
the deep sea has ever been seen entire. Pieces of it are sometimes seen 
half the size of a whale-boat." 

Question 10. " Voyages are lengthened more on account of diminished 
numbers of whales, than by their going in schools or their increased wild- 
ness. G. A. Covill." 

This testimony to the habits, etc., of the whale is so concisely 
written that the letter is given entire ; and it is satisfactory to find 
the impressions of the journal so nearly correct. It will be noticed 
that a whale leaping clear of the water is rare, yet it must be ad- 
mitted that it is occasionally seen. 



APPENDIX B. 

The whale-fishery originated in Nantucket, in the year 1690, in 
boats from the shore. 

In 1715, six sloops were fitted from Nantucket to follow the whale into 
deep water; no other ports being engaged. 

In 1721, from a list given in M'Pherson's "Annals of Commerce, 1 ' there 
were employed in the whale-fishery in Greenland and Davis Strait : from 
sundry ports of Holland, 251 ships ; from Hamburg, 55 ; from ports in the 
Bay of Biscay, 20; from Bremen, 24; from Bergen, in Norway, 5; total, 
355 ships. 

In 1857, the whaling fleet of the United States consisted of 670 vessels ; 
of which there were ships and barks, 617; the tonnage, 220,000 tons; the 
capital invested, $22,000,000 ; men employed, 18,000. 

In 1852, only four ships were sent out from England, and the entire ton- 
nage employed in whaling amounted to 16,113 tons. 

In 1858, France had only three ships, measuring 1650 tons, and Holland 
had only three ships. 

Thus the business had almost entirely passed into American 
hands. . And it was without governmental support or encourage- 
ment, by bounties to owners or privileges to mariners, such as I 
have shown were continually held out by England. In proportion 
to the persistent policy of England to build up this splendid school 
for seamen at home, was her jealous hostility to the spontaneous 
growth of the business in America, and she has never lost an op- 
portunity to strike at that wonderful prosperity. In the Revolu- 
tion the little community of Nantucket alone lost by capture, 134 
vessels, or about 10,000 tons, out of 14,867 owned in a.d. 1775 ; 
and large numbers of her young and hardy seamen, trained boat- 
steerers, and officers, perished miserably in the horrible prison-ships 
of England. 

The war of 1812 fell with particular severity on this business, as 
seven-eighths of the mercantile capital was at sea on distant voy- 



400 APPENDIX B. 



ages, a large proportion of which could not return in less than 
twelve months. Many of the vessels were captured by British cruis- 
ers, and the business was broken up. With returning peace, the 
indomitable enterprise and energy of the American re-asserted its 
superiority in this congenial field of adventure, and soon the sails 
of our whalemen whitened every sea, until in forty years they had 
appropriated the business, and the fleets of England, Holland, and 
France had passed from the scene. But the time came when civil 
war crippled our hands, and we were powerless to protect a busi- 
ness which girdled the earth, and compassed every sea. Then a 
people who habitually shrank from encounter with the whale, 
and who grudged our prosperity in a field they were confessedly 
incapable of, launched a swift steamer, manned, armed, and equip- 
ped for a piratical cruise, and coaled and refitted in their distant 
colonies. And, to England's shame and our great wrong, the ac- 
cursed Shenandoah proceeded to war against defenseless whalemen, 
and amidst the ice of the Arctic applied the incendiary torch to 
thirty-four American whale-ships, regardless of the announcement, 
with evidence, that the War of the Rebellion was ended. 

Thus at a blow was destroyed a fleet which England's entire 
marine could not have re-manned. To secure to herself a coveted 
carrying-trade through her Alabamas ; to surprise in distant seas 
and ruthlessly burn our whale-ships, against which she could only 
thus compete ; to destroy a business she lacked the courage to 
prosecute, were part of the bitter ends of British neutrality. Parch- 
ment patches over such rents may satisfy commerce, but the mem- 
ory of the last war of England on American whalemen must re- 
main as an heir-loom to the sons of every father who ever swung 
in a whale-boat, or wielded the harpoon and lance. 



APPENDIX C. 

To the sperm-whaleman who now sails to the distant grounds 
of New Zealand or Japan in pursuit of his gigantic game, the jour- 
nal annexed may prove interesting, as it shows how near home the 
business Was prosecuted, and how plentiful the sperm-whale once 
was directly at our doors. It is extracted from the log of the 
sloop Betsey, of Dartmouth : 

"Aug. 2, 1761. Lat. 45° 54' N., long. 53° 37' W., saw sperm-whale; killed 
one. 

"Aug. 6. Spoke John Clasberry ; he had got one hundred and five barrels ; 
told us Seth Folger had got one hundred and fifty barrels. Spoke with two 
Nantucket men ; they had got one whale between them ; they told us that 
Jenkens and Dunham had got four whales, and Allen and Pease had got 
two whales between them. Lat. 42° 57' N. 

"Aug. 22. Took a spermaceti, etc., etc. 

"Aug. 28. Saw spermaceti; foggy; lost sight of him. 

"Aug. 30. Saw spermaceti, but could not strike. Lat. 43°. 

"Aug. 31. Saw spermaceti plenty ; squally, with thunder. 

"Sept. 2. Saw spermaceti; foggy and dark. 

"Sept. 3. This morning at eight saw a spermaceti; got into her two 
short warps and the tow-iron,* but she ran away. In the afternoon came 
across her again; got another iron in, but she went away. 

" Sept. 5. Saw spermaceti ; chased, but could not strike. 

" Sept. 6. Saw whales ; struck one, but never saw her again. 
- " Sept. 7. Saw small school of spermaceti. Captain Shearman struck one 
out of the vessel, and killed her. Lat. 43°." 

It is evident that the methods of capture were very imperfect, 
from the great numbers seen, and the few captured. 

* This was evidently before the tow-line was introduced in this fishery. 



APPENDIX D. 

In 1786, while the people of Nantucket were suffering from the 
effects of the late war with England, it was in contemplation to 
transfer the whaling business to France. The following are a part 
of the advantages offered by the French Government to the people 
of the island, who wished to settle at Dunkirk, and there establish 
the whale-fishery : 

"You will communicate with all the prudence you are capable of to the 
select meu of the island, and acquaint them with all the real advantages 
the town, port, and country offers for their establishment: 

"The unlimited freedom it enjoys; the abundance and cheapness of all 
sorts of provisions ; no custom-house, nor customs officers to embarrass 
a free trade ; the small taxes ; the regularity of the town ; the manners 
and industry of the inhabitants ; its situation ; all of which render it the 
most eligible place in the universe for the people of Nantucket to remove 
to." 

Grants, to wit : 

"1st. An entire free exercise of their religion or worship within them- 
selves. 

"2d. The concession of a tract of ground to build their houses and 
stores. 

"3d. All the privileges, exemptions, and advantages promised by the 
king's declaration in 1662, confirmed by letters patent in 1784, to all stran- 
gers who come to establish there, which are the same as those enjoyed 
by native subjects of his majesty. 

"4th. The importation into the kingdom, free from all duties whatever, 
of the oil proceeding from their fishery, and the same premiums and en- 
couragement granted for the cod and other fisheries granted to native 
subjects. 

"5th. A premium per ton on the burden of the vessels that will carry 
on the whale-fishery, which shall be determined in the course of the nego- 
tiation, either with Mr. Rotch, or with the select meu of the island. 

"6th. All objects of provisions and victuals for the ships shall be ex- 
empted from all duties whatever. 



APPENDIX D. 403 



" 7th. An additional and heavier duty shall be laid on all foreign oil, as 
a further encouragement to them, in order to facilitate the sale of their 
own. 

"8th. The expense of removing those of the inhabitants who are not 
capable of defraying themselves shall be paid by the Government. 

" 9th. A convenient dock shall be built to repair their ships. 

"10th. All trades-people shall be admitted to the free exercise of then* 
trades, without being liable to the forms and expense usually practiced 
and paid by the native subjects for their admittance to mastership. 

"11th. They shall have liberty to command their own vessels, and have 
choice of their own people to navigate them. 

"12th. They shall be free from all military and naval service, in war as 
well as in peace. 

"The above is certified to by Abner Coffin, notary and tabellion public, 
by legal authority duly constituted, etc. 
"Nantucket, June 15, 17S6." 

In thus granting privileges and immunities superior to the high- 
est orders of nobility, the French Government evinced its anxiety 
to secure to the French marine and trade a share in a business 
its own people failed in acquiring. And it furnishes evidence of 
the reputation for skill, courage, and enterprise which our own 
hardy seamen had established for themselves, that they could ob- 
tain such terms from a proud and powerful government. 



THE END. 






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